Sakura Taisen: Dawn of Seasons
by TheWritingProgrammer
Summary: 1947: year of change after decades of peace. Abandoning their own hearts, Commander Oogami Ichirou, Vice Commander Maria Tachibana, and their secretary Shinguji Sakura chose and trained eight young maidens to step into the spotlight that was once theirs.
1. Chapter 1: 20 years later

Disclaimer: Sakura Taisen (aka Sakura Wars) belongs to Ouji Hiroi, Sega, and Red Entertainment. The Teito Hanagumi belong to Kousuke Fujishima and Hidenori Matsubara. I'm just a Uni student trying to release the tension from my thesis through fiction writing, with the amazing Sakura Taisen saga as foundation.

'Dawn of Seasons' is a prequel to a bigger story I'm cooking up right now. Read this like how you watch 'Sakura Taisen: Ouka Kenran', as a background and reference. I try as much as possible to put the Hanagumi members at the heart of the story and to minimise the domination of my original characters - they do not appear in this first chapter, for instance, except through mentions in conversations. I'm also trying to keep the Hanagumi members in character, with exception of Iris, whom I imagine to have grown up.

I think I've said enough for this time. Hope this is enjoyable enough for you, and hope I'm not offending anyone through my story. One thing I want to make clear is that there is no Mary Sue-s here. I won't base any of my characters on myself - it just feels weird.

**Dawn of Seasons**

**_Chapter 1_  
**

**Tokyo, Summer 1947**

The night was getting older. Up in the sky, the full moon shone demurely. Just like a young lady's shy, gentle smile. Trees stood solemnly on the roadside, green and still. These few days had been insanely hot and dry; what a good time to hold a Revue International Conference. The stench of the meeting room was still so vivid in his head, even after almost an hour after it was over.

He turned to the road ahead of them. They were getting closer to the office, and he was grateful for that. His deputy had taken over the chauffeuring duty from him tonight, insisting that he should rest after such a day. Their secretary seconded that, so he has no choice but to oblige. Women clearly knew how to talk men into doing something. Or, more exactly, into not doing something.

"So, what do you think, Captain?"

"I don't really know, Maria-kun," he answered, glancing at the Eurasian woman beside him. It struck him that his 'girls' were really getting older. Maria might look like her 20-year old self on stage, but without her make up on, she really looked her age. The crows' feet and laughter lines gave her away.

She seemed to catch his change of expression, for she smiled. "Yes, Captain, I am _this _old," she said, tilting her head to keep her fringe away from her eyes. "I'll be graying in a few years. Won't be long until I start forgetting things. Hopefully it's not my lines, if you would still have me on stage."

"I would kick you out," he replied, grinning, "so that I can have my wife all for myself."

"Well, we must let Sakura choose, mustn't we?"

They both chuckled, as the aforementioned woman dozed quietly on the backseat. A whole day of note-taking was surely overwhelming.

"That's a good line, Maria-kun," said the Captain. "Suitable for a nobleman. No wonder your daughter initially thought you were her Dad."

They chuckled again, remembering that day when they discovered that Maria's daughter Chiharu, then two years old, had been assuming that Maria was her father instead of her mother. The poor eight years old was still embarrassed when her _neechan_-s teased her about it.

"That wasn't actually as bad as when Natsue walked into the rehearsal to see me holding her mother," Maria mentioned, as they passed the familiar downtown Tokyo buildings. "It took Sumire a great pain to explain to her that Sakura and I weren't cheating on you."

"And she didn't think it was her _tjotja_[1]," the Captain added, half-laughing. "See, Maria-kun, the effect you have on young ladies."

"I'm used to it, Captain," Maria replied cooly, "I've been in this position for more than twenty years. And these days I share the attention with Leni, so it's not as bad. Actually they're after Leni more than they're after me, for she spent more time on stage recently."

The majestic silhouette of _Daitekoku Gekijou_ started appearing at the distance. On its side was the illuminated billboard, glistening against the deep blue night. _Beauty and the Beast_, staring Leni Milchstrasse and Iris Chateaubriand, Tokyo's hottest on-stage couple. People said they have this chemistry – as good as, if not better than, Maria Tachibana and Shinguji Sakura's.

"Should we remake _Arabia no Bara_?" asked the Captain. "You and Leni on the stage, playing Princes. We might get some young ladies passing out on their seats."

"Sure, if we have time," Maria agreed, slowing down as they approached the guarded gate of the theatre. No one greeted them; the soldier in the security post was snoring with his head on the table. The Vice Captain opened the window and fired her empty handgun into the air, causing the young man to spring on his feet and scramble to the car.

"Could you please open the gate for us?" inquired the annoyed Captain.

"Yes Sir!" shouted the soldier, scrambling back to the post to open the automatic gate. Slowly, the metal door slid open, revealing the stone-lined driveway and the immaculate gardens on its sides. The Captain, Maria, and Sakura silently drove in, straight to the garage at the far end. The gilded door rolled up as it sensed their car approaching, permitting them into the dimly-lit room. On its other edge was an ajar wooden door. There stood a moderately tall woman in skirt and blouse, not dissimilar to what Maria and Sakura were wearing except in colours.

"Speak of the devil," muttered Maria good-naturedly, smiling. She quietly parked the car and got out, opening the backdoor to wake Sakura up. The secretary opened her eyes the moment Maria's hand land on her shoulder. Years of working together had gotten them used to each other, in so many ways some people found it slightly creepy.

As the two ladies gathered their stuff and documents, the Captain walked towards the wooden door. The lady standing there gave him a salute, which he returned. Now close enough to this second youngest 'girl' of his, he noticed the red tinge on the silver-haired's cheeks. Leni had been drinking.

"Anything big happening when we were away?" he asked, frowning.

"Nothing much, Captain," answered Leni, stealing a quick glance at Maria who was busy gathering the mountain of documents they brought from the conference.

"Chiharu?" the Captain whispered.

Leni nodded. "Been waiting for Maria all the afternoon, wanting to show the new Kanji-s she'd learned. She ended up sitting at the bottom of the main staircase for hours. Finally she fell asleep."

The Captain secretly sighed. Maria was never a full time mother; she was back to administration duties a week after Chiharu's birth and to acting as soon as she weaned Chiharu. Until recently, though, she always had time for her daughter, at least two or three hours in the evening. Now, Chiharu was even lucky to see her mother for five minutes in a day. Revue International had been giving them too much trouble lately.

"Has anyone moved her away?" he asked, clearly not wanting the little girl sleeping on the staircase.

"Kanna was here earlier today, so Chiharu got a piggyback from her _oba_-chan[2]," answered Leni. "Iris put her to bed."

The several next minutes passed in whispered chatters, as the Captain and his staff of ladies moved into the main building. Maria and Sakura wanted to check on their daughters before they went off to sleep that night, so the four stopped by the children's quarters. It was one of the most secluded places in the building; a fairytale-themed closed apartment with its own living room and kitchenette. Chiharu Tachibana and Natsue Oogami shared this quarter with Aki Kayama, daughter of Revue International's Yuichi Kayama and Kaede Fujieda.

Iris answered the door and welcomed them into the living room, where she was previously sewing headpieces for the girls. The mothers went to their daughters' rooms, as the Captain sat with Leni in the kitchenette, enjoying cups of tea Iris served them. Looking around the apartment, he could see the girls' books and toy items. There were no sign of war, no sign of poverty, no sign of sadness.

Since their last attack in 1927, the evil forces had never again visited Tokyo. Since then, Teikoku Kagekidan had slowly evolved into a real revue, though officially they were still doubling as a defence troupe. Their big family had expanded since then – with several marriages, births, and adoptions.

Looking at the family picture painted on the wall, the Captain fondly thought about each of his eight 'girls' and what had become of them. He momentarily wondered what Kanna, Sumire, and Orihime were doing at their houses, and what Kouran was busily working on at Hanayashiki development quarter. The four had chosen to leave Daitekoku Gekijou, though they still dropped by, unannounced, at least once a week – could be more if there was a show coming. He hadn't got the chance to spend some time with them recently; he was so busy. Sometimes he missed those old days, when the nine of them were inseparable.

He turned to Iris and Leni. The two sat across the table, each nursing her cup or tea. Iris was slumping over the table; the dark circles under her eyes revealed her lack of sleep. Leni leaned back on her chair, head thrown backwards, eyes closed. These days must also be hard for them, juggling their nieces, the upcoming play, and the managerial duties abandoned when he, Maria, and Sakura went to conferences. He remembered being initially concerned about leaving most of the household affairs to the youngest two. But Leni and Iris lived up to their brother and sisters' expectations in all fields, if not exceeding them.

He silently recalled watching his two youngest sisters growing up, physically and mentally. Shortly before her 18th birthday, Leni hit a drastic growth spurt and caught up with him in height – she stood just a mere half inch shorter. Her sisters started her on adult male leading roles when she was 20 – would have been sooner, if they didn't have to wait until Iris is mentally mature enough to play the female lead. The latter grew into a dashing female lead, with her expressive eyes and wonderful adulthood voice. She was a good head shorter than Leni, making them such a good-looking stage couple.

Both Iris and Leni had been subjects of romantic advances from young noblemen and business heirs since they were in their twenties, though so far they had yet to respond to any. After living in the theatre most of their lives, the prospect of leaving it was daunting for them.

Or so Leni said.

At the very start of Leni and Iris' adulthood careers, Sakura gave birth to Kazuma. He was soon followed by his younger brother Koujiro and Maria's eldest Lievya, and the Captain knew Leni and Iris' fates were sealed. The two had been tending their nephews and nieces, who had been rapidly coming ever since. They were both as shattered as Sakura and Maria when Kazuma and Lievya left Japan to join All Nations' Revue Troupe. As he watched the ever-composed Leni wept quietly in the corner of the kids' study that day, the Captain realised that there was no chance Leni and Iris would get families on their own. Their lives were so entwined to those of their nephews and nieces, who had busy, constantly absent parents.

The approaching swishing sounds told him that Maria and Sakura had resigned from the girls' rooms. Seems that the girls had slept through their mother's visits. The Vice Captain and the secretary soon joined the tea-drinking party at the kitchenette, the looks on their faces unreadable. The Captain knew that there were a bit of sadness in their hearts, though. The years they spent working together in a tiny room had given them this ability to sense even a small change in each others' emotions.

"They were too tired," informed Iris, who had also figured out what her elder sisters were thinking about. "Sumire and Orihime drilled them hard for Beauty and the Beast's _Finale_. Aki handled it the worst, though – I walked into her crying to her father on the phone this evening."

"I don't blame her for that," Leni commented, staring down at the brown liquid in her cup. "Her voice is developing – and we could already tell that she's going to be a soprano. Getting her to sing a boy's part was kind of too much."

"We sort of have no other choice, though," Maria reasoned. "We have three child sopranos, a mandatory boy's role to fill, and no answers for our call for low-voiced child actresses. Aki was chosen because she is the tallest."

"If only we could stop making the girls cry," Sakura sighed. There had been more than a few fights between the girls – mainly Natsue and Aki – about who would be playing a boy role. They were in that developmental stage where they wanted nothing to do with boys, let alone playing one.

"They'll get over it," said Maria. Leni nodded in agreement, and with a pang of sadness in his heart, the Captain recalled that the two women had shed too many un-wiped tears in their childhoods.

"Would be better if we can find a young actress to play boys for us, though," he said, looking at the four. "If only it's easy to find a girl who pass the spiritual energy level test." Revue International had made it mandatory to employ only permanent actresses with high spiritual energy level, _to keep outsiders unaware of what we are doing_.

"Dr. Asakawa's husband was the heir of a ninjutsu clan, if I'm not mistaken," Leni said, referring to the female doctor in charge of all Hanagumi members. "I recall they have a daughter about Natsue and Aki's age. Perhaps we could try our luck with her."

"As far as what I heard of, the child's totally helpless," Maria replied as she poured Sakura and herself cups of tea. "Ever since her father died and her mother moved to Tokyo, she's been living only with her father's sister. Her aunt was born deaf, mute, and visually impaired, she could not do much to help the girl develop her spiritual power."

"Besides, she won't leave her aunt," Sakura added. "Dr. Asakawa had asked her, numerous times, to spend a few days here in Tokyo. She wouldn't budge, even with the promise of a front row seat for one of our performances."

"Let's just not put young boy roles in our productions until Revue International give us one who could play it," said the Captain. "I don't really want to involve more families in this whole business."

Iris put her cup down and looked at them, a spark of curiosity in her eyes. "Did they mention the idea of creating a new fighting troupe again today?" she asked the Captain and the two oldest women.

"As if they ever stop mentioning it," the Captain replied tiredly. He rubbed his temple – the tension from the heated discussions he had earlier with some Revue International officials was clearly still there. He could feel Maria and Sakura fidgeting on his sides; clearly the two ladies weren't fond of the discussions either. Surely you would not be happy being called 'old ladies' when you were not yet 50.

"They are actually accountable of the threat imposed to Japan now," commented Iris. She reached for the sugar container and took a spoonful out. "Most of the troupes they established in Southeast Asia and East Europe have always failed to stop the spread of the Dark Force all over their respective countries."

There was silence, followed by a splash created when Iris dropped the spoon into her tea.

"You would not get a strong team, when all members you recruited are unstable teenagers," Leni broke the silence. "Even a trained Captain could not do much without cooperative team members."

"Actually, I second that," agreed Sakura. "I heard that some of those girls have terrible diva complexes, and that they would not work together with their team mates. Seems that all those troupes lack cohesion."

"According to Kaede, those teams have issues with unresolvable personality clashes," Maria said. "As a result, the team is divided into opposing fractions. Each member will do everything to put the other fraction on the commander's bad book. It became a competition for attention and acknowledgement, rather than a collective effort. How are you going to win a battle, if you're too focused on outshining someone else there?"

"Hopefully they will mature in time," said the Captain, looking at his ladies. "I have seen their spiritual energy graphs, it's a pity that they waste such wonderful energies."

They all slipped back into their silences, too tired and too occupied to talk. It didn't take long before they all finished their teas and dissolved for the night, trying to fit in a decent amount of rest before the next long day started.

_**End of Chapter**_

Note:

[1] (Rus) Aunt

[2] (Jap) Auntie

So, that's all for now. Hope to see you guys soon :)

-N-


	2. Chapter 2: decision

Disclaimer: since I uploaded the last chapter, I still have not yet owned Sakura Taisen (Sakura Wars) - not that I plan to gain acquisition of it anyway. It belongs to Hiroi Ohji, and our beloved characters to Kousuke Fujishima and Hidenori Matsubara. I only own my plot and some original characters - Aki Kayama, Chiharu Tachibana, and Natsue Oogami in this chapter.

This second chapter continues the previous one. Here, one of my characters will have her first few lines. The events here were written as viewed by Maria (first part) and Sakura (second part). I tried my best to see the events as these two, hopefully I got their characters right. Anyway, enjoy!!!

**Dawn of Seasons**

_Chapter 2**  
**_

Another month had passed since that last Revue International conference. A lot of things had happened in _Daitekoku Gekijou_. They'd had that four nights of _Beauty and the Beast _performance and got some splendid reviews – as well as some crude criticisms from some media people who seek sensation. Iris had finished those headpieces she was sewing for the little girls; and Chiharu was so attached to hers it was with her everywhere. Letters from Kazuma and Lievya arrived from their current post at Australia. The Managerial Office get busier and busier, up to a point where its three attendants must spend sleepless night working in it. And the three weren't the only ones who suffered from stress and fatigue, for they were called out of the office one afternoon when Leni collapsed during a dance practice.

As Vice Captain/Assistant Manager Maria Tachibana sat beside her pale, thinning, cold-sweating sister the latter's room that whole evening, she realised that the time had come. Hanagumi was no longer a team of nine. It was a team of two: Leni Milchstrasse and Iris Chateaubriand. If there was ever another war – may God forgive her for thinking of this – they would stand no chance. They needed new comrades, preferably young girls on their spiritual energy prime.

And who would best fit those roles but Aki, Natsue, and Chiharu?

"A penny for your thoughts, _Tjotja_[1]?"

Maria turned and saw Aki on the door. The pre-teen wore a cream-coloured dress she was a bit too old to wear, her brown hair tied in two pigtails. In her hands was a tray, with a sole bowl on it. Iris must have sent her to bring Leni's dinner.

"Ah, Aki. Nothing, really. I'm just sitting here with your _Tante_[2]. Did your _Tatie_[3] send you here?"

"Yes," answered the girl. She walked to the table and put the tray there, next to the neat stack of papers and folders. "_Tatie _is too busy cooking dinner at the moment, so she sent me instead. Perhaps she did that to keep me out of the kitchen, she's been shunning Natsue and Chiharu out as well."

"Thanks then," Maria said. "You may join Natsue and Chiharu now, I'll make sure that Leni eats."

"Alright, _Tjotja_. See you later."

After Aki left, Maria stood up and walked to the window. Leni's room had a full view of the garden – they had specifically arranged it to enable the _Tante _to discreetly supervise her nieces playing in the garden. Chiharu and Natsue had been in the garden, Maria could hear their faint voices. Scanning through the trees and bushes, she spotted the girls – clad in dresses similar to what Aki was wearing – sitting between the cherry and orange trees, having a 'tea party' with their dolls and stuffed animals. Hiding behind a nearby bush was Leni's dog Shirou-the-fourth, busy eating a piece of cake which was not supposed to be given to him – the girls had been breaking orders again.

Closing her eyes, the markswoman slowly massaged her tensed forehead. Having fought wars as children, Leni and Iris did every step possible to protect the children's innocence. Long play hours, frilly dresses, all studies and no work – an upbringing perfect for a princess. She was sure those two hands-on aunts would not react kindly to the junior-team plan. They had lost Kazuma, Koujiro, and Lievya to Revue International schemes, and surely they would not want the three to get involved as well.

And Maria also didn't want to turn them into war engines.

Watching Kazuma and Lievya plunging into an international battle against Dark Forces was hard enough, even after all those preparations the Hanagumi did to ensure the two's survivals. The preparation itself was also an intense mental torture. No parent should watch their precious children walking around with guns and swords, moreover teach them how to attack. She still remembered yelling at Lievya for hesitating during a training session and finding herself crying in her room later that evening. Kazuma and Lievya left _Daitekoku Gekijou _as adults in teenaged bodies, being armed with all their parents' and aunts' combat knowledge. Each day, the Hanagumi women would secretly scan newspapers, fearing for the worse for the two. Every letter they sent home was a relieve; at least the two were still alive.

Leni stirred in her uneasy sleep. Maria looked at her second youngest sister, the one sister she could probably relate the most to. They both had not much childhood to tell anyone about. They were both teenaged war engines, calm, logical, and cold. Until today, she still found it a bit hard to get in touch with her emotions, and she knew Leni felt the same. Would they be able to go on knowing that they'd sent the children to the same place?

But what if Revue International started recruiting the three girls too? She was too observant not to pick those hints and remarks up. RI officials had come to know that the girls did indeed possess considerable spiritual energies. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before a new city troupe was established somewhere in the world – and one of the three would be needed. Sure, they could just not give their permissions, but, could they afford risking their relationship with Revue International and the girls themselves? She knew the naïve girls well enough to know that they would put up a fight against their parents' decisions not to let them go if they were recruited.

Setting aside the trains of thoughts, the unreadable Vice Captain sat back on the chair and started wiping cold sweats off her sister's head.

* * *

Shinguji Sakura had always trusted her superiors' decisions. Not because they were both her partners – her real husband and her on-stage 'lover' – but because she knew they were reliable. That was why she found herself walking down the dingy street at one of Tokyo's most dreaded areas at this ungodly hour. She'd kept one hand on her gun, though. In situations like this, a gun was clearly handier than a sword. Her skill with gun was dirt to Maria's diamond, but she reckon she was decent enough to at least defend herself.

"Crazy old folk, why this place out of all?" she heard her husband muttering under his breath. His gun was out, he was on siege.

"Always a bit eccentric, isn't he?" Maria responded. She also had her revolver out, aimed at an imaginary thing in the distance. "I reckon it's easier to get good cheap _sake _in places like this."

"He'd better not be drunk tonight," Ichirou said, "or I might bash him."

Sakura chuckled, and she could hear Maria chuckling too. Their former commander was such a character, even in his old age. The older man had always managed to grill Ichirou's nerves – and Sakura suspected it wasn't unintentional.

They took a right turn at the miserable intersection and entered the first building on their left. It was an old, miserable building; looked even more forlorn in the dim light. It reeked of _sake_ – Sakura wrinkled her nose, for the smell was so strong. People in the rooms all along the hallway were making strange noises – doing God-knows-what. The shadow behind one of the paper doors reminded her of the closing scene of _Kaijin Bessou_[4] – except that it was performed by a real man and a real woman. Honestly, she didn't know how could Ichimoto Yoneda stand living in this place.

Soon they reached the room he rented, located at the back of the house. Yoneda-shihainin wasn't drunk tonight, thank heavens for that. The door slid open as soon as they reached it, he must have seen their shadows.

"Welcome, kids," the old man said, "come in."

They entered the room and sat down on the _tatami_. It was much better than the other parts of the building they'd seen, well-kept and clean. Yoneda-shihainin had kept everything traditional, apart from the bedside table in the corner of the room where he placed pictures of his old teammates and the Hanagumi. Tonight his _futon_ was nowhere to be seen; he hadn't yet slept. Sakura suspected that the phone call requesting a discussion about 'forming a new troupe' got him a bit too excited.

"The Revue International are on your heels, aren't they?" he asked them straight-forwardly.

"Yes," Ichirou answered. "But it's actually more than that. Right now, what is called Hanagumi is actually a team of two. As good as Leni and Iris are, they alone would not stand a chance against those dark forces."

"And they're getting old, aren't they?" the ex-manager asked. "I'm actually surprised they could maintain their spiritual energy levels for so long. Any suitors yet for your sisters?"

"As you know, they don't want it," Ichirou answered, a hint of guilt in his voice. Yoneda-shihainin had been hinting that he hoped for marriages for Leni and Iris – his two youngest daughters. "They're too attached to their nieces."

"Ah, lovely girls, aren't those daughters of yours?" asked Yoneda-shihainin, grinning. "I still remember the day each of them were born. Now, forgive me for forgetting this, but how old they are now?"

"Natsue turned twelve last month," Sakura's husband answered. "Aki is eleven – won't be long until she's twelve, though. Chiharu is eight, she's the baby of the bunch. You should visit and see them one day – sadly and gratefully, they were nothing like their parents."

Her husband's last sentence invoked some thoughts in Sakura's mind. Natsue, Aki, and Chiharu were raised in abundance and with lots of love – unlike what their parents had growing up. They were also shielded from the harsh reality, Sakura and her sisters had themselves ensured this. She disliked admitting this, but Natsue and Aki's attitudes didn't quite match their ages. They were too childish.

"Have you started them on combat training yet?" asked Yoneda-shihainin.

"Not yet," Ichirou answered again. "They were too young for it."

"Too young, eh?" the ex-manager asked, subtly smiling. "Iris was nine when she started with us."

Maria tensed up. Sakura could understand her elder sister's anger; the half-Russian had lost her innocence too early, during a war which robbed her off her childhood. "This is an entirely different case, Yoneda-shihainin," she said defensively, "we have never had to teach Iris how to wield a sword or fire a gun."

The old man just smiled and looked at them. "You're trying not to involve your little girls in this. That's it, no more and no less."

Sakura felt her own anger raising. "Isn't that enough that we've given up our elder children?" she blurted, unable to control herself.

"Unfortunately not," answered Yoneda calmly. "Have you ever thought that Revue International might ask for your girls, to be placed somewhere in a faraway country with strangers they don't know?"

The question sucked all the blood away from Sakura's head. She swayed a bit, suddenly feeling dizzy. Ichirou and Maria's silences told her that they had ever discussed this before, during one of those rare moments when she wasn't with them.

"It was just by luck – and a bit of persuasion from this old, crazy man – that they didn't split Kazuma and Lievya. Their original plan was to send Kazuma to Cairo and Lievya to Moscow. This grandfather knew that his grandchildren would get bashed senseless by the horrible older personnels at those places. So, out of his love for them, he coined this idea of All Nations' Revue Troupe to those Revue International benefactors, who bought it. And that was because their parents were too stubborn to form a junior group in their troupe. Your reluctance to let your children fight, Sir and Madams, had cost you two of them. And, how about your younger son Koujiro, Oogami? Is he still happily training to be a revue troupe leader, waiting for the day when they would tell him to pack his bags and go captaining a troupe of young ladies somewhere in the world?"

Sakura clenched her fists, shaking in attempt to control her emotions. She could feel Maria and Ichirou shaking as well.

"Kayama and Kaede are in a transfer process to All Nations' Revue Troupe," Yoneda-shihainin continued, looking at the three of them. "They have long wanted to keep an eye on those kids from All Nations' Revue Troupe, such a decent bunch they are. My hand-picks, you know. I'm hardly ever wrong in this matter, look at you guys."

After all those incidents in many revue troupes around the world, Sakura could really say that finding a team that would harmonise well wasn't an easy job. Most of the times, people just got a mismatched bunch of girls, with some incompatibilities in spiritual energies or personalities.

The ex-commander stood up and walked to the corner of his room. He pulled out, from under the _tatami_, a closed folder, and walked back towards the spot the three were sitting on. He gave the folder to Ichirou, who took it a bit hesitatingly.

"What's this for?" her husband asked.

The old man smiled. "There has been this interesting research conducted by some Kanzaki Heavy Industry engineers – Sumire's father informed me about this a while ago. Apparently they've found techniques to breed soul crystals. This might mark a new era in Koubu technology; for you can combine the cores of good warriors and obtain a super-species from it."

"Wouldn't it be dangerous, if it ever fall into the wrong hands?" Maria questioned.

"That's why it had been kept secret for all these times," Yoneda-shihainin answered. "They have successfully fused soul crystals from Paris Kagekidan and bred five new ones from the union. Now, the technology is still quite unstable and they aren't yet sure if they could fuse more than five, but there had been plans to try with nine."

"Ours?" Maria asked, slightly surprised.

Yoneda-shihainin smiled. "Whose else?" he asked, a hint of pride in his voice. "The legendary Teikoku Kagekidan Hanagumi."

"Ah, I see," Ichirou said, lifting his head up from the document he was scanning. "A parent's crystal would be a good match for their children, wouldn't it? This technology ensures that at least Natsue and Chiharu will be able to stay with us, and that they will get compatible team-mates. Matching Aki into the team won't be hard, so I reckon this would solve the problem."

"You got it right, old boy," Yoneda-shihainin said. "Your task now is to find some other girls to fill the spots. They need to be matches for your spiritual cores, so it might not be so breezy. You might have to travel as far as the South Pole to find those young ones."

**To be continued...**

* * *

**Notes:**

[1] (Russian) Aunt

[2] (German) Aunt

[3] (French) Auntie

[4] The Hanagumi performed this in the movie (with Sakura and Lachette in leading roles) and in 5th Kayou Show (with Sakura and Maria as leads). The one I'm referring to here is the Kayou Show version – which was ended with an intensely romantic/sensual scene between the land princess (Sakura) and the sea prince (Maria).

* * *

Alright... second chapter posted. Hope it's enjoyable for you, I'll be coming back next weekend with the third chapter :).


	3. Chapter 3: the early hours

Disclaimer: I still haven't yet owned Sakura Taisen... ;)

Third chapter is here! I had a bit of hard time writing it, wasn't really sure what to put. It's really difficult to go into details with the characters' emotions without being slow and draggy... Initially I was planning to write some events from Leni's and Iris' perspectives, but somehow those events just didn't fit. The first part of this chapter was done from Maria's perspective. Not that I favour her much more than the other Hanagumi members, but she's the Vice Commander and I need to present the events as seen by a Vice Commander. The events in the second part were seen from my original character Natsue Oogami's eyes. I understand that there is a negative sentiment about original characters among the fanfiction readers, and I can only hope that it doesn't bother you much :).

There is one other thing I need to say. I had been such a bad girl last week, forgetting to thank my readers and reviewers in my last chapter. Hereby I thank Yumi Michiyo and James Birdsong for their reviews. Thanks to all of the other readers too. I promise I will continue giving my best :).

So, enjoy!

**Dawn of Seasons**

Chapter 3: The Early Hours

They began training the three girls in combat a week after that night meeting between the High Commando and Yoneda. All nine Hanagumi members participated in this effort, though not all of them were actually alright with it.

Today, Maria found herself in the VR control room, standing next to Sakura and the Commander. A full-gear VR training was taking place in front of them, with Leni as Field Commander and Iris plus the three girls – Aki in Sumire's Koubu, Natsue in Sakura's Koubu, and Chiharu in Orihime's - as her team members.

"_Chiharu, the enemies are not only coming from your right. Pay attention. Natsue, you're holding a sword there, not a gun. You have to be really close to the enemies._"

Leni's fiery, commanding voice echoed from the speakers. On the screen was a total battlefield chaos, the team were losing. It wasn't Leni's fault. The German was a competent Field Commander, the incompetent ones were her team members.

She saw Aki charging straight into the target point, playing her role fairly well. Leni was dashing around the battleground with Iris, trying to cover the areas the girls failed to cover. Apparently Chiharu and Natsue were too busy trying to move their Koubu-s to remember the instructions Leni briefed them with earlier.

Leering at the Commander, Maria saw him rubbing his temple in despair. Natsue and Chiharu's poor skills with Koubu-s had been their problem all these times – the entire Hanagumi agreed that the two girls were worse than average rookies. Kouran hypothesised that the problem lies within synchronisation, and Maria seconded that. The Hanayashiki branch and Kanzaki heavy industries had been working on special units tailored for the girls. They were almost done with the physical developments now, and just have to wait for the spirit crystalets to grow into full crystals.

Of the five crystalets resulting from the fusion of the Hanagumi's nine, only one seems to thrive. It was unfortunate that the thriving crystal wasn't a good match for any of the girls, but at least the girls' three matches were still growing, albeit slowly. The fifth crystalet stagnated completely – the researchers reckon that it was dying. They were now preparing another fusion procedure to get more crystalets, since the Commander blatantly objected the idea of having a defense team with only four members. Maria herself agreed that four weren't enough. Reports from those other countries suggested that the scales of nowadays' demon attacks were larger than what four young pilots could handle.

"_Natsue, ON YOUR BACK!_"

Maria snapped back to the screen. Iris' panicked warning was too late. Natsue's unit – Sakura's, more exactly – was now on the ground, smoking all over. It was totally ruined, the emergency eject system wasn't even working. Bracing for the worst, Maria dashed to the control panel and force-quitted Natsue's simulation system. It was slightly too late. The virtual Koubu had exploded before the system finished shutting down.

"ENOUGH!" the Commander roared, slamming the central switch off. "All of you are dismissed NOW!"

The VR pods expelled their pilots at the sudden shutdown. Leni and Iris – being used to their pods and the whole simulation system – quickly regained their footings. The youngsters weren't so lucky. They were all thrown face-down to the floor. Maria lurched in reflex, only to remember, a moment later, that today she was their Vice Commander. The three girls were her subordinates, not her baby daughter and little nieces.

"I'll go and check them," mumbled Sakura, turning around and running towards the door. She didn't make it any further, though. The Commander had blocked her way.

"You're not going anywhere," said the man, firmly squeezing his wife's upper arms. "Let them handle it themselves. They're soldiers now, not little princesses."

_Yes, soldiers. Not little princesses._

Inhaling deeply, Maria closed her eyes. This was like training Lievya and Kazuma all over again, except that Aki, Natsue, and Chiharu were younger and less resilient. They also weren't as physically agile and dexterous as the elder two. Three months had passed, and their skills hadn't improved by much. They weren't talented in _kendo_ and fencing – a surprising finding, considering Natsue and Aki's ancestries. They had no hope in empty-handed fighting either, their tender figures and limited innate strengths stood in the way. They had also been sent to Sumire for _naginata _training, with so far no observable results. All the ordeal put a lot of stress on the Hanagumi members. The Commander bore the most of the stress, though – his frustration was understandable.

She felt Sakura sinking down to the chair next to her. The secretary was upset, Maria could feel her low mood. No matter how hard they try to be indifferent, the girls were still their daughters. Watching Natsue, Chiharu, and Aki struggling and agonising night and day from the trainings was enough of a punishment for putting innocent children into war.

"Maria, I want Chiharu and Natsue to start using your and Kouran's units from tomorrow on," the Commander said, defeated. "I'll tell Leni to bring them to the shooting practice room this afternoon."

"You're going to teach them how to fire?" Sakura asked. There were disbelief and anger in her voice. The Hanagumi, including Maria, had agreed that introducing the girls to guns and explosives was a last resort.

"Do we have another choice?" the Commander asked tensely. Turning around, Maria saw him leaning against the door. He was shaking all over in anger – this was one of those rare moments when he was really angry.

Sakura didn't reply. She put her elbows on the control panel and leaned forward, tears flowing from the corners of her eyes. Maria pulled her sister into a hug and closed her eyes again, restraining her own tears. She wasn't sure whether those were tears of anger or sadness. There would be nothing but confusion when logic met love, and it was what they had been experiencing so far. They were actually three confused people.

"I want you to train them, Maria," the Commander continued after a while. "No one knows guns better than you. They'll be using those spare guns we keep in the office."

"Alright," Maria answered, knowing that she had no other choice. Memories of the days in which she lost her innocence flooded her again – her Papa, Yuri, all those comrades, snow, and rain of bullets.

* * *

"Don't rush. Concentrate."

_Tjotja_'s voice echoed throughout the room. Ignoring the discomfort from her soaked combat outfit, Natsue lifted her gun and took a deep breath. She was going to master this. There was no way she would fail this as well, after her failures in all the previous trainings. She could not afford being branded a stupid child.

The barriers between the slots obscured the sights of her cousins-cum-friends Aki and Chiharu, but considering that _Tjotja_ and _Otou -sama _hadn't yelled at anyone so far, they seemed to be doing good as well. Could be that the two Drill Sergeants were tired of shouting, though. This whole shooting ordeal had been running for a whole week.

She moved her right arm around a bit, trying to find a good aim. The strange yet familiar feeling told her that she might have been watched. Could be _Oka-sama_. Her mother had been standing at one of the room's corners, huddling quietly with _Tante _and _Tatie_.

"That's a good one, Aki."

Damn. Aki had beaten her again. Was there anything that cousin of hers couldn't beat her on?

Pissed off, Natsue pulled the trigger and fired. She hadn't yet mastered the art of observing a bullet, but she could tell that it would hit the target. It definitely looked and felt different than those times when she fired into the wall.

"Good job, Natsue. Your first bull's eye."

Natsue knew she shouldn't be too proud of an achievement as small as this, but being at the receiving end of _Tjotja_'s praise really made her happy. Her eldest aunt had such a high standard for all the trainings.

It seemed to boost her mood, for she managed to hit several more bull's eyes during the rest of the practice. At the end of the day, she got six of those – not bad, considering that none of her cousins had even got one. Aki was really close, though. Natsue made a mind-note to work harder so that her cousin wouldn't overtake her. Aki was already _Otou-sama_'s favourite student, synchronising well with all the Koubu-s she was given and so on. There was no way Natsue would let her cousin be _Tjotja_'s favourite student as well.

Aki went back to her room on her own after the training, somewhat upset. Having no desire to deal with her brat of a cousin, Natsue just let her be. She walked out with Chiharu-the-talking-machine instead. The little sunny scatterbrain blabbered about anything and everything – from the predicted dinner menu to Sumire-_Obasama_'s teenage son Ryuhou Kanzaki. Natsue felt bad for treating her kind, gentle little cousin like this, but honestly she wasn't really interested in all those stuff. She just nodded and hmmph-ed to keep Chiharu talking, so that she didn't have to say anything. She was exhausted.

"And Ryuhou-_niisan _said that Natsue-_neechan_ was really cute in the cat costume!" Chiharu finished her story. Looking at the little girl's differently-coloured eyes, Natsue saw nothing but innocent sparkles. Everyone thought it was cute that Ryuhou and Natsue were such solid friends, and Kouran-_yiyi _and _Tatie _had always been hinting that they should get married someday. It wasn't a bad idea, actually. Perhaps Natsue would submit to their will sometime later, after she became Teigeki's top star.

"Glad he liked that ridiculous cat costume," she responded cooly, not wanting to disappoint Chiharu, the only person in this whole theatre building she could bear to deal with now.

"He should have seen you in the shooting practice!" Chiharu exclaimed excitedly. "I cheated and peeked on you – you were really cool. You made Mama really happy today!"

Natsue smiled. Chiharu might be childish and annoying, but she could be such an angel at times.

"Let's take our showers," the older girl said, subsiding her happiness and wonders. "If you were right and _Tatie _would be making _crepes_ for dessert tonight, we'd better be quick before Aki eats all!"

* * *

There was no _crepes _that night, though. Chiharu and Natsue arrived at the common dining room only to be greeted by a troubled Leni. The order given to them afterwards was shocking and quick – they should be packing a small suitcase for a short trip, for someone they knew had died. It was Dr. Asakawa, the physician who had been taking care of them since they were newborns. They weren't told what exactly happened, but seemingly the doctor had an accident at her Hokkaido hometown while on vacation.

As she hurriedly threw in her box of hairclips, Natsue wondered what really happened to the soft-spoken, kind woman who always knew how to fix her health problems. She froze for a moment when she recalled that Dr. Asakawa had a daughter slightly older than her. What happened to the girl? Was she there as well? Did she make it?

Natsue slammed her suitcase closed and hurried out of her room. She could always think about that girl she didn't know sometime later during the journey. Right now she just wanted to beat Aki to the car.

_To be continued..._

* * *

Note:

_Tjotja_(Russian)_, Tante _(German)_, Tatie _(French)_, Yiyi _(Chinese),and _Obasama _(Japanese)all mean 'Aunt'. The little girls refer to their aunts differently, based on their countries of origin. They also refer to their parents based on their ancestries – Natsue called her Dad '_Otou-sama'_ and her Mum '_Oka_-_sama'_, and Chiharu called her Mum '_Mama'_.

See you next week!


	4. Ch 4: Reflection of the Broken Flowers

Disclaimer: please refer to the previous chapters.

May I present to you chapter four! Written in parallel with my thesis report, this was really my stress-release outlet. The first part will be presented from Iris' point of view, and the second one from a general point of view. There's a new girl in this chapter – you should be able to point out who it is quickly.

That's all my author ramblings for now. Thanks to Yumi Michiyo and James Birdsong for their reviews, and to all of you readers for reading this story. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Dawn of Seasons**

Chapter four: Reflection of the Broken Flowers

"... the Rose of Arabia revived Desire, and the brothers lived happily ever after from then on." [1]

No one was still listening when Iris finished her story. All her three nieces had fallen asleep, exhausted after the hard day. She didn't quite understand what was in _Niisan_'s mind when he decided to bring the twelve and eight year olds to a crime scene. The girls had been clinging on Leni and her throughout the whole investigation, terrified. The charred remains of the small house spoke of death, and being granted with a strong spirit energy, Iris could sense the remains of the dark energies.

The house had been attacked by demons on early evening the previous day. The attackers shot dark energy beams through the house and later set it on fire. All of them escaped, presumably to Vladivostok, Russia – where they were thought to originate from. No one were to blame. There was no anti-demon troupe in Vladivostok. It was too far for Moscow Combat Revue too handle, and Teikoku Kagekidan had no authority to handle cases occurring outside of Japan. Above all, the damage was done, and all they could do was to deal with it. Right now, the whole Teikoku Kagekidan was at Hokkaido, doing investigations and damage control. As for the demons, Iris heard that the Moscow Revue Combat girls had been sent to Vladivostok to track them down. Hopefully they did not mess up too much this time.

She was glad that Aki, Natsue, and Chiharu weren't brought to the corpse-sighting. They should remember Dr Sara Asakawa as what she was when they last saw her. Iris was secretly relieved that she too didn't have to see the bodies. The only Teikoku Kagekidan personnels to go into the morgue were _Niisan_, Maria, and Kanna, and the looks on their faces when they went out said that they had just seen a gruesome sight. They even went into the elder-sibling mode and forbid Leni from entering, seemingly forgetting that the age gap between them had disappeared as they all got older.

Right now _Niisan _and Maria were still out there somewhere, leaving the rest of them in the villa. They were lucky that Orihime's husband, a Japanese nobleman, had bought this vacation house a few years earlier. The beauty and peace surrounding the European-styled building helped a lot in easing the suspense.

Though they weren't officially part of Teikoku Kagekidan anymore, Kanna, Kouran, Sumire, and Orihime were at Hokkaido as well. Iris wasn't sure whereabouts in this house they were now, probably sitting near the telephone with Sakura and Leni, or hanging around in the dining room. The only thing she was sure about was that they had not yet gone to bed. No one would be able to sleep before _Niisan _and Maria went back safely.

The door creaked open. Quickly turning around, Iris saw an exhausted and wary Leni. The German curtly gestured Iris out, stealing a quick glance at the sleeping girls. Exhaling, Iris stood up and crossed the wooden floor to meet her closest sister. Leni gently pulled her out and closed the door, looking into her eyes.

"Maria has just called. They're bringing Dr Asakawa's daughter here, the hospital is having problem taking her since she's essentially uninjured."

So this was what _Niisan _and Maria had been doing all the evening. They had gone to the hospital to take care of Mifuyuko Asakawa, the sole survivor of the house attack who was saved by her accidental use of spirit energy.

"Everyone else is preparing for her arrival now," Leni continued. "The child is apparently in a deep shock. She would be kept in one of the first floor rooms, and Sakura will watch her. You're to continue watching those three and inform them about this when they wake up.".

Iris quietly nodded. Being the little sister, she was used to taking her _Niisan_ and elder sisters' orders without questioning too much.

"I'm coming back downstairs now," Leni said, pulling Iris into a hug and briefly kissing her forehead. "They'll be arriving soon, and the room is still in total chaos as for now. I need to help Kanna rearranging the furniture."

"Take care and do your best," Iris whispered, nestling herself in Leni's embrace. "I know you hate all these junior team plans as much as I do, but please support _Niisan _and our sisters. They have their reasons."

Leni threw a sad glance to the closed bedroom door, behind which their nieces were sleeping.

"I'm scared, Iris," the taller woman whispered. "Now that we've had a case of attack and murder by dark forces... We'll have another war soon. The girls will be thrust into the battlefield in the matter of months. I don't want them to die."

Iris held her sister tighter, letting Leni share more of her pain and worries. It was only in their private moments like this Leni could totally open up and let everything show. "You are not alone. I'm also scared, and I know that the others are scared too. They just keep it to themselves."

Leni rested her chin on the top of Iris' head. Though Iris could not see her favourite sister's face, she knew Leni well enough to tell that the German was smiling bitterly.

"I raised them, Iris. I held their hands as they learned to walk. I can't lose these girls. I can't."

A few drops of liquid fell on Iris' head. Leni was crying.

"I raised them with you and the others, remember?" the French asked, hot tears forming in her own eyes. "I want to see them grow up and find their happiness – everyone wants to, Leni. Trust _Niisan. _I'm sure he'll do everything he can to keep them safe."

Clicks of someone's heels echoed in the hallway. One of their sisters was climbing the stairs, seemingly Sumire, judging the step rhythm.

"You'd better go now, Leni," she whispered, giving her sister a quick peck on the cheek and disentangled herself from the embrace. "Tell everyone not to finish the Vodka – _Niisan _and Maria would need it."

Some of Iris' blonde locks got trapped in her lips as she spoke. Leni smiled, pulling them away with her little finger.

"Don't eat your hair."

They both chuckled, wiping the tears from their faces.

"I'll see you in breakfast tomorrow."

With those last few words, Leni turned around and walked away. Iris stood still there, watching, until her sister's slim figure disappeared behind the turn. A tiny smile formed on her lips as she slipped back into the children's room. Life might be sad, and fate might be cruel. But, no matter what, she knew that she would always have Leni.

* * *

Dr. Asakawa and her sister-in-law were cremated as soon as the autopsy finished. It was the best they could do – the level of dark energy residue in those bodies were so high.

Mifuyuko was given five short minutes to say her goodbyes. All the Hanagumi members watched in solemn silence as the young teen – clothed in a new black dress Sumire had picked from a local store – stood between the two closed caskets, one hand on each. There was no words and no tears, only intense sadness and confusion. The copper-haired fourteen year old stepped back and walked away after just three minutes, refusing to look at the caskets from then on. She didn't wail, just wept quietly on her chair as fire engulfed her mother and aunt's bodies, erasing the physical trace of the last ones of her family.

The Hanagumi stayed there at Hokkaido for one more week. There were lots of paperworks to be done, most of them being Mifuyuko's adoption papers. The nine Hanagumi members have vowed to take care of the girl and treat her like one of their own, as a form of gratitude to the late Dr. Asakawa who had been a great help for them. Actually, it was more than just gratitude. Mifuyuko would have had to go to an orphanage if no one was willing to take her. The eight Hanagumi sisters all had been unhappy in their childhoods, in one way or another. They were determined to give Mifuyuko her normal teenagehood back.

Mifuyuko Asakawa was officially the daughter of Ichirou Oogami, Sakura Shinguji, Maria Tachibana, Leni Milchstrasse, Iris Chateaubriand, Sumire Kanzaki, Kanna Kirishima, Orihime Soletta, and Kouran Li in the morning of January 27, 1948. She was fourteen years, one month, and twelve days old at the time of her adoption. She would continue using her birth name to honour her birth parents and birth family.

The Hanagumi, together with their four girls – Mifuyuko, Chiharu, Natsue, and Aki – flew back to Tokyo right after they signed the adoption papers. They released a press statement about their absence from Tokyo and the adoption that evening, and the news was in the papers the very next morning. For about one and a half months, fans and gossip reporters constantly monitored the theatre building, hoping to get a glimpse of the newest Hanagumi daughter. Their attempts were fruitless, though. This new girl was never out. Eventually those people gave up, and everything resumed like usual. The theatre was only crowded when they had a show, and the press stayed away from the private lives of the actresses, who were getting older and less scandalous than they were in their youths.

Mifuyuko's adoptive grandfather, Ichimoto Yoneda, visited his newest granddaughter as soon as the press attention died down. He smiled mysteriously upon seeing the teenager, who cowered under his gaze. He let her go after two minutes of awkward conversation, and she quickly slipped away, seemingly grateful that she didn't have to talk anymore.

"She reminds me a lot of how you were," the grandfather then told four of Mifuyuko's adoptive mothers, who have been sitting together with them during the short meeting. "Cold. Indifferent. Scared of people. Scared of herself."

The four women – Iris, Leni, Sakura, and Maria - glanced at each other awkwardly, not knowing what to say.

"Have you got her energy tested?" the old man asked, ignoring the awkwardness.

"There were some tests they conducted as part of the investigation of the Asakawa case," Maria answered for her sisters. "She is indeed a perfect candidate for our new team. Right now we are waiting for the right time to start her training – she's in a really bad shape, emotionally and mentally."

"Bad shape, eh?" the ex-manager asked them, lifting an eyebrow.

"She spends most of her days in her room," Leni answered, looking down at the carpet. "She'll do everything we ask her to do, but rarely acts on her own will. Her interactions with Natsue and Aki have been really poor, they gave up on her after a few failed attempts on conversations. Chiharu is the only person she talks to – that is, when she's in the mood for talking."

"The poor girl is always haunted," Sakura muttered, shaking her head sadly. "She believes that she's cursed, I think."

"She's holding a lot of things back," Maria added. "She's so determined not to let her emotions show. They're slowly eating her up from inside."

"All of us in Hanagumi have had our tries of getting her to open up," Iris continued. "But she's scared of everyone. Serious approach failed, funny approach also didn't work."

Yoneda again smiled the mysterious smile. "You want a solution?" he asked them.

The four nodded.

"Put her on the stage. Once she nailed it, the combat part would be easy."

He paused and looked up nostalgically at the old picture on the wall.

"There is this big thing going on underneath that confused exterior of hers, my girls. All she needs now is guidance. Don't you ever give up on her. She's everything you were, and someday she will be everything you are now."

_To be continued..._

* * *

Notes:

[1] The story Iris was telling the girls is 'Arabia no Bara' (The Rose of Arabia), the play Hanagumi performed in The fourth Kayou show. Leni, Maria, and Orihime were the main stars – Maria as Prince Tattan, the somewhat ruthless ruler of the country; Leni as Prince Desire, Tattan's younger brother who went against his brother's regime; and Orihime as The Rose of Arabia, a mythical creature. In the story (SPOILER ALERT), Desire sacrificed himself so that his brother could understand love and be a better ruler, and the Rose of Arabia later revived the younger prince upon his elder brother's sorrowful pleas.

* * *

See you next week!


	5. Chapter 5: Tokyo, Paris

Disclaimer: still the same...

Here's chapter 5. The first part (which is long) was written from Leni's perspective, the second from an OC's perspective, and the last from Oogami's. If you feel that the events here are somewhat cliché and predictable, you're not alone. I feel that too. Hopefully it's not too bad, I'll be a lot more careful with the next chapters.

This chapter features three new OC-s, two Hanagumi sons and a girl unrelated to the Hanagumi. Judging the increasing complexity of the character relationships here, I might eventually get a family tree done and put on my profile. Everyone in the story is pretty much mapped in my head, I just have to find the time to construct the tree.

Thanks to Yumi Michiyo and James Birdsong for their reviews, and also to all others who have read it. Hopefully this chapter is decent enough for you to enjoy.

**Dawn of Seasons**

Chapter 5: Tokyo, Paris

_Tokyo, Late Spring 1948_

"One, two, three, JUMP! Now, you see a butterfly passing by. Turn around and run, TAP, TAP, TAP. You lost it, now stop. One, two, look around..."

Leaning against the dance studio's mirror, Leni quietly observed the four young dancers. Being a trained dancer, she could say that the routine wasn't technically hard. It needed a bit of emotional work, though, for there was a story to be told.

So far, all the four girls had been doing good. She had little to say about Chiharu, the girl had always been expressive. Aki and Natsue were improving, they slowly shifted their focuses from gaining perfection to enjoying the dance. The one person who stole her attention, however, was Mifuyuko.

Yoneda-_shihainin_ was right in suggesting that they put the girl on the stage. Performing was a good outlet for Mifuyuko to release all her sadness and survivor's guilt. She always looked more alive while dancing or singing.

Mifuyuko's relationships with everyone had improved, though she was still introverted and shy. Her presence in the group toned down the alarming competition between Natsue and Aki, and overall the girls were much better now. They had not yet started Mifuyuko's combat training, but they had been bringing her into the VR control room recently. She boosted her friends' combat performances by just being there, for some reasons they could not explain. Seemed like their puzzle had been missing a piece so far – and Mifuyuko was that missing piece.

The list of good happenings in these recent months elongated with the news from the Kanzaki research lab. The fifth soul crystal, which they thought was dying, suddenly decided that it wanted to grow instead. The Commander immediately left for Kawasaki to check it. The four sisters – Maria, Sakura, Iris, and Leni – opened a bottle of Vodka in Maria's room that night, after triple-checking that the girls were asleep. The impromptu celebration was worth it, though the usually sensible sisters got totally trashed and suffered from killer hangovers the next day. It refreshed their minds and helped them refocusing after all the rapid, confusing events in these last few months.

Currently, the High Commando was in Paris on a Revue International conference. Leni had to fill in for them, and Iris had to take over the girls' trainings, both in performance and in combat. Sumire, Orihime, Kouran, and Kanna had been helping with the trainings, though it was not possible for them to be at _Daitekoku Gekijou_ all the times. Orihime had a family to care for, Kouran had her responsibilities at Hanayashiki, Sumire had a company to run, and Kanna, well, Kanna had her own businesses to do. None of them was coming today, though Orihime did send some treats – cakes for the girls, a bottle of wine for Iris and Leni. All were sent with a note not to 'polish everything off in one go.'

Leni shifted her weight from one leg to another and focused back to the dance routine. Seemed that she had missed quite a lot as she got lost in her own thoughts, for the girls had ended their dance. They were now stretching out in the middle of the room, grinning like idiots as they saw each other in the mirror. Iris circled around them with her markings' folder on hand, playfully swatting each and every head as she saw the idiotic grins. They all ended up laughing.

Leni grinned as well. She was still grinning when the four girls said their goodbyes and dashed out of the room, relieved that their training routines had finished. They had gone through a lot of things today – started with their writing and maths lessons in the morning, followed by the VR training, and lastly the dance coaching which had just ended. They would all sleep like babies tonight, and that would be great. There would be no nightmare-induced hysteria for Leni and Iris to handle.

"How's _Niisan_, Maria, and Sakura?" Iris asked.

"The Commander is alright, a bit tired but otherwise fine," Leni answered, crossing the room to join her sister. "Maria and Sakura were different cases. Apparently Paris Kagekidan's junior team have been recreating that _Kaijin Bessou_[1] dance. The two are having a bit of exhausting fun helping Hanabi coaching the young ladies, each night after the meetings."

Iris chuckled. The _Kaijin Bessou _dance, though beautiful, was sort of embarrassing for some actresses, especially those with little experiences in depicting love scenes.

"How are they going so far?" the youngest Hanagumi asked, dropping herself on the floor.

"Not bad, judging Maria and Sakura's expressions," Leni answered, recalling the Kinematron conference she previously had with her two sisters. "Opening night will be tonight, and the Paris youngsters are ready. It's rumoured that the venue will be overcrowded tonight, thanks to the fame of Teikoku Kagekidan Hanagumi's _Kaijin Bessou_."

_Kaijin Bessou _was Teikoku Kagekidan Hanagumi's 'signature play', as assigned by Revue International. It had been recreated so many times by Revue Troupes all over the world, though no one had been able to exceed the original performance so far. Apparently the recording of the theme song had been distributed in France as well. According to the Commander, _Subete wa Umi e_[2]was a big hit in the Japanese community in Paris.

"The Paris girls will be fine," Iris commented, pulling Leni to sit down with her. "They're in good hands there. I think they'll be able to dance properly, even if they've never danced Japanese traditional dances before."

Leni smiled at this remark. The junior Paris Hanagumi consisted of two French, a Dutch, a Moroccan, and an Argentinian. Sakura told Leni that the Moroccan would be playing the princess, and one of the French would be playing the prince. These two girls had never been anywhere near Japan before, and neither had ever met a Japanese untilthey were introduced to Hanabi. It was a bit of challenge getting them into proper Japanese gestures, but according to Maria, they managed it at the end.

"Do you reckon that they will ask us – you and me – to do _Kaijin Bessou_?" Iris asked, curiosity in her eyes.

"Maybe," Leni answered. _Kaijin Bessou _was one of the plays Leni and Iris had not been asked to take over. It wasn't impossible that they would be asked to do it, but the _Kaijin Bessou _fun was so far reserved for Sakura, Maria, and Ratchet Altair who played the Prince once when she was visiting[3].

Someone knocked the door. Iris sprung up to her feet and opened it. From the mirror, Leni could see two grinning faces. Her nephews Ryuhou Kanzaki and Taka Kirishima had dropped by to visit their aunts and cousins, straight after school.

"Ah, you two!" Iris exclaimed happily as the boys took turns hugging her. The loving _Tatie _stepped aside and let the boys get inside to greet their _Tante_. They pulled Leni up and enveloped her in a group hug – the 'boys' ritual' they'd been doing since the boys could barely grab Leni's waist. Now, the sixteen year olds were already taller than most of the Hanagumi members, spare Maria and Kanna. Would't be long until they overtake Maria, though. Taka might grow taller than Kanna. She was his mother after all, and though the second eldest Hanagumi never said anything about the man who fathered her son, Leni had an impression that Taka's father was more or less as tall as Kanna.

"Geez, _Tante_, you are so short," Ryuhou teased Leni, squinting at their images in the mirror.

Leni smiled and reached up to ruffle the boy's dark blonde hair. It was his only feature which revealed his European ancestry. Face-wise, Ryuhou inherited everything from his mother and maternal grandfather – a fact that Leni, Iris, and Sumire's other sisters were always grateful about. Sumire did not need a constant reminder of her jerk of estranged husband, whose current whereabouts was a total mystery for them.

"Hey!" the Kanzaki heir complained, frantically flattening his hair back. His cousin grinned mischievously at this, and Leni knew why. It wasn't a secret that Ryuhou had this big crush on Natsue. The boy was always self-conscious around the youngest Oogami, though so far he hadn't yet got the guts to tell the young lady that he liked her. Not that it was an entirely bad thing, though. Natsue was only twelve, and the timing wasn't quite right.

"The girls might be in the shower," the German casually told the boys. "Might take them another hour to get ready for dinner. Won't you be expected at home?"

"_Ka-chan _and Sumire_-obasama_ are both out of town," Taka answered. "Seems that they suddenly wanted a vacation – and off they went. We've sent the driver back home to tell the staff that we're not coming back for dinner today, so it should be alright. They won't tell our mothers about this, I think we bribed them enough."

Leni smiled again and shook her head. The rules in the Kanzaki/Kirishima household was quite strict, but the boys, being their mothers' sons, had always found ways to get away. It didn't help much that Sumire and Kanna were prone to indescribable antics as well. For the start, outsiders would see their current living arrangements as strange, though the Hanagumi fully understood the reason behind it.

"Tonight is Italian night," Iris informed. "I'm going to cook that pasta dish your _Zia_[4]Orihime always served. Do you want to help me, while waiting for the girls?"

"Sure, why not?" Taka said. Ryuhou nodded in agreement. The boys could cook, much better than Natsue, Aki, and Chiharu could. Thanks to Kanna who had always involved them in the kitchen since they were young.

"Are you joining, Leni?" Iris asked.

"Not today," Leni answered, thinking about the unfinished letter laying on the desk at the managerial office. "I need to finish something – I'll join you at dinnertime."

"Alright, then," Iris responded, smiling. "Come on, boys."

The three left for the kitchen. After a bit of tidying up, Leni locked the dance studio and went back to the managerial office. The High Commando would be away for at least one more week. Leni hoped they would be back as soon as possible, for things were getting a bit chaotic. There were new Koubu-s to be checked, new playscripts to assess, and profiles of potential new members to read. Leni had gone through the profiles, and so far, she had not considered any of them. They were all loved and shielded, coming from happy, complete families. It was unlikely that any of them could be a good match for the Hanagumi.

Dropping slowly onto the guest chair – she didn't feel comfortable using any of her brother or sisters' chairs – Leni picked the pen from the table and started thinking. She was to write a letter to someone in German. It was harder than what she initially expected, for her _Deutsche_[5] had somewhat transpired after twenty years of using mostly _Nihongo. _

The office phone rang. Sighing, Leni put down the pen she'd just picked up and reached for the black phone.

"_Daitekoku Gekijou_, Leni Milchstrasse speaking. How can I help you?"

"_Leni? It's me_."

Leni immediately recognised the voice across the cable. It was Kanna.

"Ah, Kanna. How is it going?"

"_Not so good. Sumire hasn't been in a good shape, and I'm taking her back to her parents' place for a change of scene."_

"I see. How long are you going to be there?"

"_No idea. It's a bit bad this time – we might be back in a week or so. Sorry about this._"

Leni inhaled deeply. It had been fifteen years since _that _happened, yet, Sumire was still bearing the scars. Her bouts of mental instability and confusion had become less often and less severe over these last ten years, but seemed that they started going back after they adopted Mifuyuko.

"That's alright, we understand. Hope Sumire gets better soon."

"_Thanks, Leni. Guess I'll talk to you later – she'll wake up from her nap soon_."

The call ended. Leni put the phone back down and stood up, slowly walking to the big window. The letter could wait. Right now she needed a bit of break, everything had become too much.

* * *

_Paris_

It was just one of the usual nights. The _Monsieur_[6] was busy behind the counter, taking orders and counting payments. The _Madame_[7]was nowhere to be seen – most likely in the kitchen, cooking whatever those customers wanted. Plates flew rapidly from the kitchen to the dining area, ferried around by the frantic waiters and waitresses. One young man, juggling two plates on each hand, nearly collided with her as she made her way to the lonely piano at the corner of the room. She would have to make do without the pianist tonight. He pianist was dead drunk and couldn't make it to the _cafe_ – his embarrassed wife appeared on her door just before she left, apologising for her husband's behaviour. Not that it was a bad thing, though. The pathetic man had tried to hit on her several times, despite the huge age gap and the fact that he was married – to a decent looking woman nevertheless.

Stashing her little purse into the tiny gap between the piano and the wall, she briefly scanned the entire _cafe. _She quickly spotted the usual customers, sitting in groups on their usual tables talking about trivial things that sparked their interests. There were some couples as well, lost in that thing they called 'love'. They would not care much about what she sang today. She guessed she would just sing anything she wanted to – soothing her own heart. Perhaps she'd throw in some foreign songs, she was a bit bored of French at the moment. That Japanese song they'd been airing on the radio these recent weeks was interesting.

After a bit of warm-ups, she started with her usual overtures. Juggling the piano and her voice was quite tough, she couldn't interact with the customers as much as she liked to. The multitasking made her singing some tunes out-of-key as well, though no one really paid attention, judging the constant buzz of talks.

Or perhaps someone did.

Lifting her eyes from the piano keys, she subtly turned her head to the far end corner of the room, from which she felt she was being watched. Turned out that she had more than one keen audiences tonight. Huddling closely around the small table were three people, one of them an Asian man. One of his two companions was a soft-looking Asian woman, might be his wife for Asian women didn't normally go out at night without their husbands. The third person was a bit ambiguous – she couldn't really tell whether it was a man or a woman. One thing she was sure about was that this person was Caucasian, at least partially. The natural-looking platinum blonde hair was a dead giveaway.

Smiling cheekily to herself, the young singer ended the melody she was playing on the piano and made an improvised transition to another. Her watchers might not be Japanese, but there was also a chance that they were. They might appreciate _this_.

"_Itsuka wa umi e minamoto no umi e, _

_Umi kara umareshi subete wa umi e..."_[2]

* * *

"_... Ai mo, nikushimi mo,_

_chikara mo, yume mo, _

_namida to natte, nagarete kieru._

_Subete wa umi e..._"[2]

Stifling a chuckle, the Commander glanced at his wife and his vice. They were both stunned beyond words, he knew, though they used their acting skills to hide it. No one had ever thrown this song back to them before.

It wasn't a particularly good rendition of the somewhat mysterious, deep song. For start, the young French woman was inconsistent about who she was singing as. She just merged the duet into a slightly awkward solo. The pronunciation slip-ups were a bit funny as well, the girl surely didn't know Japanese. The only thing she got totally right was the feeling. Though her mechanical punctuations clearly showed that she didn't understand the lyrics even a single word, the emotions in her voice conveyed more than the mispronounced lyrics and the awkward blended tunes.

"Not too bad, huh?" he asked the two women sitting next to him.

The two looked at each other, having their usual silent conspiracy about what to say.

"She's not bad, she's just untrained," Sakura whispered, eyeing the girl, who was now singing an English song. "The breathing techniques, the way she keeps leaping between her head voice and her chest voice... Once we've got it fixed, she'll be amazing."

"She would make a good male lead," Maria added. "Her chest voice is much better than her head voice. Her face is slightly too feminine, though – we'll need to use some make-up to conceal the girlish features."

The Commander chuckled.

"She might not have what we need," he indirectly reminded the women. The two startled at this sentence. Seemed that they'd been thinking that they would definitely take the girl under their wings and polish her into a top star.

"You're right, Manager," Maria finally said, after a few moments of silence. "There's only a slim chance of that. She's also too old to join the girls. Let's just go back to _Chattes Noires_, it's been pretty late and we have another morning meeting tomorrow."

_To be continued_...

* * *

Notes:

[1] Kaijin Bessou: play in Kayou Show 5. See chapter 2 of this story for more explanation.

[2] Subete wa umi e: finale song for Kaijin Bessou. It translates to 'Everything Flows into the Sea'.

Animelyrics has its lyrics and translation.

[3] In the Sakura Taisen Movie, Ratchet, instead of Maria, plays the Prince in Kaijin Bessou.

[4] Zia: (Italian) Aunt.

[5] Deutsche: (German) the German language

Nihongo: (Japanese) the Japanese language

[6] Monsieur: (French) Sir, Master

[7] Madame: (French) Madam

* * *

See you next week :).


	6. Chapter 6: Black Snow

Disclaimer: as usual.

After lots of redrafting and rewriting, finally I can present to you the sixth chapter. The first part of this chapter is written from Oogami's point of view. The second is from my OC's point of view, the third from Sakura's, and the last one is again from Oogami's. I should warn you about something, though, before you start reading. One of my OC-s is featuring rather prominently here. I had rewritten this chapter – thrice – to tone down her presence and make it more bearable for general readers. Now, this is not a Mary Sue story, and this OC was not at all based on myself or someone else I know, but you might want to skip the first few parts of the chapter if you hate OC-s :).

Thanks to Yumi Michiyo, who has been faithfully reading and reviewing this story, and also to others who had dropped by and taken some time to read. Hope that this chapter is likeable enough.

**Dawn of Seasons**

**Chapter Six: Black Snow**

_Paris_

The Commander's greatest weaknesses were, undoubtedly, his flowers.

To tell the truth, he was almost sure that the young singer they saw in the cafe had no unusual spiritual energy. The glorified thing was familial and rare, and she was just a person they randomly bumped into. Yet, his two flowers seemed intrigued by this girl. After two consecutive nights of accompanying the women back to the cafe for the purpose of watching the youngster's unpolished performance, he again submitted to their unspoken will and borrowed Paris Kagekidan's top investigator to get her details.

The young man got back to him in just a few hours with the girl's details and some bits of her life story. This information was really interesting, so interesting that the Commander found himself on the doorsteps of the the girl's dingy flat that very afternoon. What Maria and Sakura felt wasn't just a silly hunch invoked by the girl's rendition of _Subete wa Umi e _(A/N: theme song from Kayou show _Kaijin _Bessou). Women tend to be sensitive to spirit energy – especially to those matching their own.

The door was answered after three loud knocks – by the person of interest herself.

"Are you Marie Elurra Lisle-Beltz?"

The girl nodded. There was a bit of confusion on her face, which looked sixteen - her real age - without all the make up on.

"I have a job for you. Come with me."

* * *

As she laid inside the strange pod, strapped to various intimidating devices which kept making creepy noises around her, Elurra harshly cursed herself. She was stupid. Utterly stupid. How could she be so trusting towards that Japanese man? This breezy cafe-singer life had really dulled her instincts. The old Elurra Beltz wouldn't just follow a stranger who promised her a job without thinking much about the situation.

Right now, she could just hope that she would come out of this experiment intact, and that she would be paid high enough for this lab-rat job.

"Alright, Miss. That's all. Thanks."

She was too pissed off to say anything to the scientists, so she just laid quietly there as they removed all the bands and detectors from her head, arms, and chest. One of them gently pulled her up, offering an arm to hold onto as she climbed out of the pod. She just ignored it. She was strong enough to get out of here by herself... or so she thought. Her knees gave way as soon as her feet landed on the floor, and she fell down. She gathered her dignity and crept back up – just to fall again. She was totally powerless.

"She exhausted herself trying to block her energy from all the detectors. Bring the stretcher here," the scientist instructed, kneeling down to check on her. She angrily refused to look at him, but again had to comply as he lifted her to the stretcher and wheeled her out of the lab. The stretcher's motion caused such a pain in her head; she saw nothing but stars throughout the whole short trip. Finally they stopped, and she was again lifted and moved, this time to a bed. The comfort of the mattress was such a relief after the hell of experiment. She grunted contently, curling up on her side. She wanted nothing but sleep now. Her brain was too hazy, she couldn't even think.

She did have a wonderful sleep, dreamless unlike most of those sleeps she'd had these recent few years. She felt so refreshed when her consciousness finally came back, though completely disoriented. The bed felt strangely comfy, the room strangely warm, and the air strangely fragrant... with sweet smells similar to _Maman_'s (A/N: Maman = French for Mum).

"Good morning."

Her eyes shot open in reflex. She wasn't alone. Someone, or more exactly some-two, had been watching her. These two looked so familiar... well, of course they were. She had seen them in the cafe before, with the darned Japanese man.

"_You_," she hissed, retaliating to the wall. "What are you doing with me?"

* * *

"_You_. What are you doing with me?"

Sakura clung at Maria, secretly hoping that her eldest sister knew what to do. This wasn't exactly an easy situation, thanks to Ichirou's crazy stint. This new recruit of theirs must have been scarred for life now, being picked up from home and tricked into rigorous testing.

"Relax," Maria said cooly, "we're not here to harm you."

The girl continued looking sharply at them. Seemed that she wasn't buying Maria's words at all.

"We apologise for all the fiasco," the Vice Commander said again, just as cool as before. "Our Commander was being totally eccentric, tracking you down to your house and all."

The girl narrowed her eyes down upon hearing the word 'Commander'.

"Are you cops?" she defensively asked.

"Nope," Maria answered. "We're from _Teikoku Kagekidan _ - the Japanese Imperial Capital Fighting Troupe."

"Would you care to explain why you need me as a lab-rat? I don't have any Japanese blood, as far as I know. I can't speak Japanese. Alright, I did sing a Japanese song for you guys. But I copied it from the radio, I don't understand even a single word."

The panicked and confused look on the girl's face made Sakura smile. Ichirou had told the whole story, and Sakura was aware that all the youngster knew was that she was being hired as a lab-rat for an experiment. The secretary could see that Maria was smiling as well – the girl's expression was priceless. She seemed to believe that she'd made such a great mistake by singing _Subete wa Umi e _in front of them.

"The Commander's sorry for lying to you, but you're not hired to be a lab rat," Maria eventually explained, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. "You're recruited as part of our junior troupe."

"Junior troupe?" the girl asked, looking more confused. "I'm not a soldier, _Madame_. You should be looking in the army."

"We are not ordinary soldiers, Elurra," Maria explained further. "We fight demons, not humans. You are recruited because you're special."

The girl – Elurra – laughed cynically at this statement.

"You're kidding," she said. "I'm just your usual girl. I've never fought before."

Sakura knew Elurra was lying. The information Ichirou got from the Paris Kagekidan's top investigator clearly stated that the girl had once been part of a local gangster in her rural hometown. At the end of her three years with them, she managed to avenge her parents, who were killed over some debts. It was after that the girl fled the town and established a life in Paris.

"You did fight," the secretary confronted the girl, "with your grandfather's sword."

"How...?"

"We'll give you some days to think about this offer," Maria interjected. "We'll be heading back to Japan in two days – if you don't get back to us by then, we'll assume that you've declined it. Give it a careful thought, especially if you're unhappy with the life you're living now."

* * *

"What did you do?" the Commander asked, almost shouting at his two highest-ranked subordinates.

"I've told you that we've let her go," Maria answered calmly.

"After you told her all about us? I thought you two were far smarter than that!"

"You don't have to be so worried," Sakura responded, smiling. "She'll come with us. Definitely."

* * *

The two women were right. Teikoku Kagekidan welcomed their newest member shortly after mid-day the next day. The following hours were a bit hectic – trying to get the girl's documents done, arranging a seat for her in their flight back, and tying all loose ends Elurra had in France. They did make it back to Tokyo on the scheduled day, though.

Ella – Elurra's preferred nickname – adapted well with her new family. She learned her Japanese quickly, and it didn't take her too long to bond with her seniors and comrades despite her introverted nature. The Hanagumi generally agreed that she looked like a mellowed version of young Sakura, or a more cheerful version of young Maria, depended on how they see it. The girl had a more eminent personality and stance, compared to her other four comrades, perhaps because she was older and her character had been pretty much set. She could be extremely stubborn that the Hanagumi ladies wanted to scream, but could also be sensitive enough to voluntarily taking up the cooking duty when her seniors were having a particularly hard day.

From the start, it was so clear that Ella was particularly close to Mifuyuko, the other introvert of the junior team. The two girls had each other at hello. Three months later, they already looked like they had known each other for years. Kouran and Orihime had jokingly labelled the two the 'next top star pair', though the Commander and the six others thought it was too early to say so. They had been planning on getting three more 'male' players.

They started Ella's combat training as soon as she could understand simple Japanese commands. Leni had to drill her hard in fencing, for the girl had never been properly trained before. Ella and Mifuyuko started their VR trainings together, and neither of them was immune to the synchronisation problem plaguing Natsue and Chiharu earlier. They went cycling through the five unclaimed old units, before Ella settled for Sakura's old unit and Mifuyuko for Orihime's. The two girls' customised units were currently under construction at Hanayashiki branch. These two were the first ones of their kind. They were specifically built as a pair, with complementary sockets facilitating energy transfers between the pilots. Now, the design wasn't just a manifestation of Kouran's newest idea. There was a particular reason behind the twin design.

The girls' soul crystals were twins.

This was yet another bizarre phenomenon which had everyone thinking hard. A month after Ella's arrival at Tokyo, the Commander and Sumire got shocking calls from the crystal cloning research team. One of the five crystals – the one which started growing later than its siblings – was cracking. The news caused a bit of panic among the Hanagumi, for this crystal was Mifuyuko's match. They waited anxiously as the research team tried every possible trick to put the crystal back together. A week later, one other batch of shocking calls were made. Apparently the crystal wasn't cracking. It was dividing into two smaller, yet very alive, crystals. The two had been growing steadily since then, overtaking most of the others which were still in stagnation. It was not unlikely, according to the researchers, that the stagnated crystals were also waiting for the right time to divide, and they had actually got nine, instead of five, crystals from their fusion procedure.

Summer and autumn passed, and winter slowly seeped in. The gigantic _Daitekoku Gekijou _was one ice palace during this time of the year, and its inhabitants had started huddling closer to get more warmth, while reducing the heating bill at the same time. Everyone had been living in each other's pockets these days, thankfully with no remarkable clashes.

Right now, the Commander was having a heart-warming time watching his girls – the older ones and the younger ones – curling up together in one of the backstage dressing rooms. The older ladies had laid out some old costumes for the younger ones' entertainments. There were Andre and Clementine's costumes from _Ai Yueni_, the notoriously tight _benitokage _dress, the _Shonen Red _ costume, and the kid-sized _Aoi Tori _costumes. Iris and Leni were taking turns telling the stories behind each costume to the enthusiastic youngsters. Though he was supposed to continue reading the junior candidate profiles he'd brought here, he couldn't help to stop every now and then, chuckling or roaring in laughter with the girls. The stories brought so many good memories of his young years.

Since they first got into the room, the commander had gone through almost twenty profiles. None of them was particularly exceptional. Rich girls, girls from noble family, child prodigies... the kind of candidates Revue International would usually shove to their faces. There was one who was slightly interesting, though. This girl looked familiar, for some reasons he couldn't explain. It couldn't be that he'd ever met her somewhere. This girl had forever been in London, and he'd never been there.

"Any interesting ones?" Sakura asked, dropping down beside him.

"Not really," he answered, "except perhaps this one."

He took the familiar girl's folder and gave it to his wife, who opened it and began studying it. He watched with interest as Sakura fixed her eyes on the girl's photograph, frowning as if she'd just seen something strange.

"Oh my. Her eyes."

"What's this with her eyes?" he asked.

"For a while, I thought I was looking at... Ichirou, we are getting this girl. We can't not get her."

_To be continued..._

_

* * *

_

I'll see you next week :). Oh, and before I go, let me explain the title of this chapter to you. 'Elurra' means snow, and 'Beltz' means black. Both are from the Basque language.


	7. Chapter 7: Story of a Scarred Soul

Disclaimer: as usual.

Finally, we reach magic number 7. Here I'll get more in depth about Orihime, Kouran, Sumire, and Kanna. The first part will be from Orihime's perspective, the second from Kanna's, and the third one – which is just a few lines long – from a general perspective. There's not much OC here, but as a reminder, here's a list of the Teikoku Kagekidan junior team members who had appeared up to this point:

- Natsue Oogami (Sakura and Oogami's daughter)

- Aki Kayama (Kayama and Kaede's daughter)

- Chiharu Tachibana (Maria's daughter, unspecified father)

- Mifuyuko Asakawa (daughter of Hanagumi's private Doctor, who was adopted by the Hanagumi after her mother and aunt was killed by evil forces)

- Ella Beltz (French cafe singer spotted by Oogami, Maria, and Sakura while they were in Paris)

There will be three more girls to go, and of course, a male captain to follow later, but I'm not introducing anyone new in this chapter. There are talks pointing to the identity and location of the next member, though ;).

Hope you enjoy the story. Oh, and before I go, I have one other thing to tell you. I've set a blog which acts as a mini 'wiki' for this story. I've put the background stories and family tree there, and am in the process of constructing profiles/avatars for my OC-s. The address of the blog is on my author's profile, you can have a look if you're interested :).

**Dawn of Seasons**

_Chapter Seven: Story of a Scarred Soul_

_Hanayashiki Headquarter, Tokyo_

Standing at the door of the Koubu workshop, arms folded on chest to help folding the cold, Orihime let her eyes wander throughout the room in front of her. There were lots of people – men – in protective clothings, running across the room with spare parts and tools in their hands. Several others were all over the two unfinished Koubu-s in the middle of the room. The person Orihime was looking for, though, wasn't there. And that could only mean a few things, all of which weren't particularly good.

Sighing, the former Italian – and now Japanese – noblewoman crossed the threshold and walked towards the corner of the room. The Assistant Head Mechanics was there as usual, studying pages of statistical reports which looked like nonsense.

"Hello, good afternoon!"

The man lifted his face from the report. The wide smile on his lips showed that he wasn't too surprised with Orihime's sudden distraction – well, he couldn't still be surprised, for she had done this to him about a hundred time before.

"Ah, Orihime-_sama,_" he warmly said, "just come in, Kouran-_sama_ is in her room. She wasn't well this morning, and I forced her back there. She definitely needs some rest."

Orihime sighed. "I've told her so," she muttered, shaking her head in despair. "Alright, then. I'll just brag in there and scold her for being so ignorant of her own health. I'll see you later!"

At the other corner of the room was a green door. Knowing well that Kouran's living quarter was just behind it, Orihime quickly walked there. Thank God she'd brought the spare keys with her today. She could just get in without disturbing Kouran, though she doubted that her Chinese sister was really resting. The lady never stopped thinking, even when she was on the bed laying.

The usual lovely mess greeted Orihime as she got in. Draft papers and blueprints were everywhere – even all over the tiny dining table. The floor was covered with tools and spare-parts, and Orihime had to jump over a few to get to Kouran's room. The door was currently ajar, and, just exactly as what Orihime thought previously, Kouran wasn't asleep. She wasn't even laying, in fact. She was sitting on her bed with a pen in hand, frowning over a thick bundle of paper in her hands.

"Put the pen and paper away, won't you?" the half-Italian affectionately scolded.

Kouran looked up from the paper and grinned.

"Give me some more moments," she said, waving the bundle in the air, "this is really interesting!"

After all these years, Orihime still could not see anything interesting in the thick reports some of her sisters usually dealt with. Nonetheless, those ladies did – so she just assumed that reports weren't her stuff.

"What's that about?" she asked, walking in and dropping herself on the bed beside Kouran.

"This is the complete analysis of the little girls' spirit energies," Kouran answered, pushing the paper towards Orihime so both of them could read. "Pairwise comparisons, group statistics, individual strength area analysis... This page is very interesting."

Orihime focused her sight on the names and graphs on the page Kouran was currently reading. It was a group comparison between four of the five girls, with two of the Hanagumi members as benchmarks. She instantly knew what was being analysed in this particular page. It had been quite a discussion among the four non-resident Hanagumi sisters: Sumire, Kanna, Kouran, and herself.

"If you see the graph on the lower right hand corner, Orihime, you'll really notice that those two newbies added up together is really similar to our two sisters added up together. Our nieces, individually or added up together, however, is really far from their mothers. It could be that it's their fathers' energies which causes that. I'll request them to make a familial comparison for the Oogami-s, to see whether their daughter is an intermediate between the Commander and Sakura. It's impossible, by all means, to get an energy analysis for the Tachibana girls' father, but if we compare Maria and the two girls, we might be able to subtract the father's energy out of the two."

Orihime nodded, letting her brain digest the whole lot of information Kouran had just told her. Apparently, the resemblance Ella Beltz and Mifuyuko Asakawa had with the two High Commando ladies spanned more things that they initially thought about. It wasn't just in the bits and pieces of personalities and gestures. It was in the energies as well.

"Both you and Leni told me that one's energy pattern is highly affected by what happened in their childhood," the Countess then told Kouran. "Considering Ella's whole history, it's actually little wonder that she matches Maria and Sakura. An unjustly orphaned girl who happens to inherit a sword from her ancestors, with a brief stint with a gang."

"I've been thinking about that as well," Kouran responded, pushing her sliding glasses up her nose. "If we are to create a perfect match for the whole Hanagumi, we would need four other kids who share similar lives with the rest of us. Perhaps after we get the right new members, it would be apparent whom Natsue, Chiharu, and Aki actually resemble – Mifuyuko didn't look like a Maria-Sakura mixture until she started bonding with Ella, right?"

"Kouran, if you would slow down a bit... you're overloading me with information," Orihime muttered, defeated. Kouran had got too excited and seemingly forgot that she wasn't talking to the Commander, Maria, or Leni, who would absorb everything in the matter of seconds.

"Alright, sorry about that. I was trying to say that once we get more junior members, we might observe another remarkable similarities."

"That's much better."

The two women looked at each other and started laughing, realising that they've just had one funny sisterhood moment. Orihime was well aware that she and Kouran hadn't been as close as the other three Hanagumi 'pairs' were. They might be on their ways there, though, considering that they'd been able to sense if the other was having trouble recently.

"Speaking of similarities," Orihime said, suddenly recalling something, "what do you think about that London girl they're currently trying to recruit?"

"Well, I can't really say much until I see her in person," Kouran answered. The grin on her face faded, and her expression turned serious. "Physically, there's a slight similarity between her and one of our sisters, though."

"Sumire," Orihime said, specifying Kouran's statement. "I wonder how Sumire would react if we end up recruiting this girl, though. She's exactly the same age with..."

She suddenly paused, looking hesitatingly at Kouran.

"... the Baby Girl," Kouran finished. She put her report and paper away and clasped her hands together. "You might not know this, but Kanna is currently at odds with the High Commando. She strongly opposes the idea of recruiting that girl. I overheard their argument when I was in the theatre the other day. She was practically shouting at them about how this might end up ruining Sumire's mental health."

Orihime sighed and closed her eyes in despair.

"This is complicated," she said. "What if that girl is really our missing niece? What would we tell Sumire? That we decided to lie and tell her that her daughter is dead just because we don't think we'll ever find the poor girl?"

"I've told you guys from the start that telling Sumire a lie is such a bad idea," Kouran responded, shifting and leaning against the wall. "A small possibility is still a possibility. Just because it's nearly impossible that the missing Baby Girl will appear in the future, doesn't mean that she definitely won't appear. But then Kanna kept insisting and all of you agreed with her, so I just hold my peace. Now, all we can do is crossing our fingers that the girl is not a suitable recruit, or, if she is, that she is not Sumire's kidnapped baby."

* * *

_Kanzaki/Kirishima Residence, Tokyo_

This had been a particularly bad day for Kanna.

The misfortune started in the morning, when both Sumire and her overslept and were late for work. Sumire was snappy all day as the result – and being the personal assistant, Kanna was the one bearing the most of her snappiness. Sumire went absolutely up the wall when they got home just to find that their sons had been causing havoc at their school, and Kanna had to deal with both Sumire and the boys. By the time all problems were settled, she was totally exhausted. Yet she couldn't sleep, for something was bothering her mind. After two hours of tossing and turning on her bed, she gave up and headed down to the kitchen instead, seeing if there was something for her to eat. Hopefully the food would help her forgetting about the High Commando and their ridiculous decision. There was nothing she could do at this point - Maria and Sakura had left for London yesterday, and their London informants had been told to arrange a meeting between the two and that goddamned potential recruit.

The fridge was, as usual, well-stocked with fruits and some leftovers. Grabbing some of tonight's dinner food, which was pretty much untouched due to everyone's bad mood, Kanna sat down and started eating. She didn't care too much if the food was cold. She wasn't in the mood of going to the kitchen and reheating everything.

"Kanna?"

Kanna stopped and turned around. There was Sumire, wearing nothing but her nightgown despite the freezing winter temperature. She looked so confused and disoriented, anxiously scanning the room as if searching for something.

_Please, not again._

"... where's the baby?"

_Oh, damn._

Putting down the chopsticks, Kanna stood up and crossed the room. She stopped right in front of Sumire, placing both her hands firmly on her younger sister's shoulders.

"There's no baby, Sumire," she said, looking into the Directress' hazy eyes. "The boys are now sixteen years old, they are no longer babies."

"Not the boys. The girl."

Sighing, Kanna pulled Sumire into her arms. The former Top Star obediently surrendered, resting her head against the older woman's chest. She looked so weak and vulnerable – so unlike the Cactus Woman who constantly picked fights with Kanna when they were younger.

"You must be dreaming again," the Okinawan martial artist said, rubbing the younger woman's back. "She is dead, Sumire. You shouldn't be looking for her here."

"Dead? How...? Was it my fault?"

"It's not your fault," Kanna said, wiping away the single teardrop rolling on Sumire's cheek. "She was sick. Really sick. Just go back to bed now. She's watching you from above, and she'll be really sad knowing that you're sad."

* * *

_Daitekoku Gekijou, Tokyo_

"Ella and Mifuyuko for _Ai Yueni_?" the Commander asked, surprised.

"Yes," Yoneda answered, "the two for _Ai Yueni_."

"Aren't the two a bit too young?" Leni asked, a big frown on her face. "By showtime, they would only be seventeen and fifteen – not that I say that the two should play something like _Aoi Tori_, but they're not old enough to play heavy love stories."

"Would you rather see them playing _Benitokage _or _Kaijin Bessou_?" Yoneda asked back.

"Well, no, but..."

"Then let them play _Ai Yueni_. Trust me, they'll manage it."

_To be continued..._

_

* * *

_

'till next week,

TheWritingProgrammer


	8. Ch8: Because of Love & The Red Sunray

**Disclaimer**: still not owning Sakura Taisen...

Here's chapter 8. There are three parts here. The first one is told from Oogami's perspective, the second one from a general perspective, and lastly we have Sakura to tell us what she sees and hears. A new member for the Teikoku Kagekidan junior team (which name wouldn't be Hanagumi, by the way... you should have had a clue from their names by now ;)) will appear here. I'm trying to give her a clear personality here, I've just realised that I've been writing the previous new members vaguely - it's a bit hard to both focus the story on the Hanagumi and highlight aspects of the OC-s personalities and histories at the same time.

This chapter focuses on the High Commando and their decisions, as well as the recruitment of the newest junior member. This new girl is a bit different from the previous five girls, in that she'd had quite a few in her 15 years. You might want to skip the last part if you hate reading about corrupted teenagers. I'm not explicitly writing about her doing all the bad stuff though – just some mentions here and there.

Special thanks to Yumi Michiyo and James Birdsong for their encouraging reviews. Thanks to all of you my readers too. I'll keep writing and trying to improve my style and skill. Hopefully you all will enjoy this :).

* * *

Original Character guide:

- Natsue Oogami (Sakura and Oogami's daughter)

- Aki Kayama (Kayama and Kaede's daughter)

- Chiharu Tachibana (Maria's daughter, unspecified father)

- Mifuyuko Asakawa (daughter of Hanagumi's private Doctor, who was adopted by the Hanagumi after her mother and aunt was killed by evil forces)

- Ella Beltz (French cafe singer spotted by Oogami, Maria, and Sakura while they were in Paris)

- 'The London Recruit', whose name is revealed at the very end of this story

- Two more girls who will join later, and a male captain who will join much much later.

Complete character/plot/relationship guide at the wordpress site listed in my author's profile.

* * *

**Dawn of Seasons**

**Chapter 8: Because of Love and The Red Sunray**

_**Daitekoku Gekijou, Tokyo**_

If the Commander could rewind the time for just one hour, he sure would. Saying 'no' to old Yoneda's latest barmy request was just easier than explaining what was happening to his girls – minus Leni and Iris, who were with him when the old fella mentioned the crazy idea.

The four he had contacted so far weren't too happy with this. Kouran and Orihime thought that putting the two new girls into _Ai Yueni _leading roles wasn't a good strategy to go with. Sumire looked at him as if he'd grown an extra head, then made a remark about how she hated training "clueless rookies". Kanna was still pissed off at him and acted as if she didn't care, but he knew her well enough not to notice the small frown of surprise on her forehead. The preparation and rehearsals would be hell for both the young girls and the seniors – and it meant that it would be hell for him as well.

Or, perhaps, he was in hell already.

Right now, he was staring at the Kinematron, waiting for either Maria or Sakura to answer his call. It had been pretty late in London and they might have gone to bed, but he _must _call them right now. He'd done something without informing them or involving them in the decision making, and they would be pissed off. However, delaying this until tomorrow or later wouldn't help much. They would even get more pissed off, in fact, for not being informed as soon as possible. So, he decided to just bear with the risk and make the call. Hopefully the two would not be too mad about this.

"_Commander?_"

The streaks and dots on the screen slowly formed Maria's concerned face. She had obviously been sleeping; slightly dishevelled hair and dressing gown and all.

"Hello, Maria," he said, smiling cheekily. "Sorry for interrupting your sleep."

"_That's alright. Is everything alright there? Anything wrong happening?_"

"Everything is sort of alright, Maria. Is Sakura there?"

Maria clung at something on her right, presumably Sakura's sleeping form.

"_Yes, she is. She's sleeping like a baby right now. We had such a long day, for our London informant was just pathetic._"

"Well, you know what kind of people Revue International throws at you," the Commander commented, grinning. "Can you wake the lady up? We – the three of us – need to talk."

"_Alright. Wait a second._"

The Kinematron on the other side was put down, and Maria disappeared from the screen. The Commander had almost five great minutes staring at the image of the hotel room's ceiling, before Maria reappeared with a slightly disoriented Sakura in tow. Now that the two were side-by-side, he could see that they were wearing matching dressing gowns. He would definitely make a joke about it, if only he wasn't too concerned about their reactions to his decision right now.

"_Ichirou? What's wrong?_"

He inhaled deeply. He knew it was just plain ridiculous to be scared at the two, but, honestly, having the two staring at him questioningly was just intimidating.

"We had a bit of a problem here," he finally admitted, deciding not to put this thing off any longer. "I said yes to old Yoneda's newest crazy request, and now all of your sisters are unhappy."

"_Request?_" Sakura asked, frowning. "_What kind of request is it?_"

He stared at them for some moments, thinking hard to formulate his words.

"Well," he eventually answered, "he wants Mifuyuko and Ella to make their stage debuts."

"_It's about time, actually_," Maria commented. "_At least for Mifuyuko. She's been with us for almost a year, and people have started talking about whether she would end up sweeping the stage instead of performing._"

"That's true," the Commander agreed. "The thing is... he wants them to be the leads. For _Ai Yueni_."

"_Ai Yueni?_" the two simultaneously shouted.

"Yes. _Ai Yueni_ – your first play as a pair."

The two ladies sighed and closed their eyes.

"_Why Ai Yueni_?" Maria asked, a strong hint of disagreement in her voice.

"Well," the Commander answered, "his two other options were _Benitokage _and _Kaijin Bessou_."

"_He's not being fair_," Sakura complained. "_Ella and Mifuyuko are still children. They're nowhere near ready to play any of those three love dramas. Why didn't you just say no to him?_"

The Commander rested his head on his hand and rubbed his temple. "That's what I've been asking myself as well," he muttered, defeated. "But I've said yes, and there's no going back... Yoneda wouldn't take it kindly."

There was a rather long moment of silence, as they all tried to figure out what to say.

"_In this case_," Maria eventually broke the silence, "_we have some serious problems here. Even though we intend Ella to play male roles, we haven't yet trained her specifically for it. We have to practically enslave her to make the performance happen. Everything needs a lot of work – from her girly gestures to her accent. Mifuyuko, well, our Mifuyuko is painfully shy. I don't know how she would cope with all the love scenes – we've never had someone that shy playing romance before._"

"_To be honest, I still can't picture them singing Ai Yueni_," Sakura commented, shaking her head. "_Even though Ella has lower voice, she sounds more girly than Mifuyuko... This could be Ai Yueni the comedy if we're careless about it._"

The Commander took a deep breath. Even his ever-optimistic wife sounded so sceptical about the prospect of their two newbies in _Ai Yueni_. But, thinking about it, Sakura and Maria both had valid points. _Ai Yueni _just wasn't the play for Ella and Mifuyuko – at least for now. Both of the girls were extremely underdeveloped as actresses, even though they had the potentials.

"Alright then," he firmly said, "let's devise a strict training regime for the two. I'm relying on the two of you in this matter, I've never been an actor before and clearly you know about this better than me."

* * *

_**Daitekoku Gekijou, Tokyo**_

"_Ai... Yueni_?" both Ella and Mifuyuko asked.

The four Hanagumi sisters – Kouran, Orihime, Iris, and Leni – nodded.

"It's the one with the flower seller and the knight, right?" Ella asked, looking doubtful.

"Yes, it is," Orihime answered. "I'm sure I played the theme song recording for you a few weeks ago in your music class. Do you still remember it?"

"The one ending with "I'll die for you" ?" Ella asked again.

"That's it," Leni answered. "We last performed it a few years back, with Iris and myself as leads. We'll be performing it again on February next year, and we want you both to be in there."

"Umm... alright," Mifuyuko said. "Who will we be in the play?"

"Well, girls," Kouran answered, "you are the leads this time."

"EEH?"

"Yes, girls," Iris said, "you are the leads. You'll play Clementine, Mifuyuko. And you, Ella, will be Andre. We're preparing the script now, and your training will start tomorrow morning. This will be a big play and we're expecting some international guests there, so you'll be trained by the entire Hanagumi. Expect some changes to your routine – you've got to work hard for this."

* * *

_**London**_

Standing in front of the antique main gate, Sakura stared at the luxurious, white-painted house behind it. This was totally irrational. The house was big enough for the entire Hanagumi extended family. Yet, their newest recruit – apparently a lonely rich kid – lived by her own there. Well, she had maids and staff to take care of the house, but, still, no child should be allowed to live alone and unsupervised. Especially when the said child had the control of a vast amount of virtue, for which she didn't even have to lift a finger.

The data given by their informant showed that this girl had gone wild. She stopped going to school immediately after her father's sudden death, and had last year sacked her tutor for reprimanding her about her increasingly uncontrollable behaviour. She frequented pubs and clubs, spending her nights dancing or drinking senseless, and slept during the day. At fifteen years old, she'd had quite a lot of ex-boyfriends, ranging from a gardener to some other rich kids. Her newest photograph – given by the Revue International informant when Maria and Sakura landed at London – showed that she had pierced her ears quite extensively. Apparently she was considering tattoo-ing herself next, for she'd been spotted seeing a tattoo artist in a cheap pub at a red light district.

"Ready?" Maria asked.

Sakura turned her head and nodded. Now that they were here, there was no time to chicken out and back off. The intimidating business of recruiting the Sumire-lookalike must be finished today.

Maria gave Sakura a reassuring look, then turned around to ring the doorbell. A young lady in maid uniform immediately came out of the house. She eyed them suspiciously as she strode towards the gate, as if she was afraid that they were thieves or frauds.

"Good afternoon. Anything I could help?" she asked in such a wary tone.

"Good afternoon," Maria answered, "we're here to meet young Miss Russel. Is she here?"

"Pardon?" the maid asked, frowning as if she didn't understand what Maria was saying. This surprised Sakura, for Maria's English was considerably flawless. No one had ever had trouble understanding it before.

"We are here for Miss Russel," Maria repeated calmly. "Is she home?"

"Oh, you're here for Miss Noreen," the waitress responded, finally getting what Maria was saying. "Please wait for some moments, I'll go and check with her if she was expecting some guests. Can I take your names?"

"Well, she might not knew who we are," Maria explained. "Could you please just put us through to her? We're willing to be searched for any weapons or harmful goods."

The maid pursed her lips.

"In that case," she said harshly, "I'm afraid that I couldn't do anything for you, Ma'am. The Miss has specifically instructed not to let uninvited guests in. Please make an appointment with her first."

Sakura watched quietly as the young woman turned on her heels and walked back towards the house, disappearing behind the carved wooden door. She looked at Maria and sighed, knowing that they were facing more trouble than what they initially predicted.

"Seems that we really have to get that useless guy doing his job and put us through with her," she said, annoyed. "This girl really has an attitude."

"She's smart, though," Maria commented, a subtle smile on her lips. "You shouldn't be too trusting if you want to survive. That's the norm of the life she's living. Let's just go back and do our plan B, we - "

"EXCUSE ME, LADIES!"

The distant shout startled Sakura. She found herself getting into a standby position, looking up to the source of the voice. There was the girl they were trying to meet, standing at the second floor balcony in low-cut long sweater and threadbare tights. The sight instantly made Sakura shivered. The pictures weren't lying. This girl had resemblance to Sumire, in both appearance and poise.

"If you two could just stay there for five more minutes, I'll get the maid opening the gate for you."

She went inside and shouted something Sakura couldn't hear clearly. The maid who had previously rejected the two Teikoku Kagekidan ladies scrambled out of the house less than two minutes later, muttering a half-hearted apology as she opened the gate for them. She escorted them inside without any further words and left them standing in the study. The huge room looked like a place Maria would happily lived in. On the walls, stretching from the floor to the glass ceiling, were bookshelves – all of which were full of books. Sakura recognised some English novels and literature pieces there, as well as some French titles. There were books marked with Cyrillic alphabets, presumably Russian. The most interesting books, however, were stashed together at a neglected end of the shelves. Apparently, the girl or his late father read Japanese as well.

"Sorry for that," the girl said, entering the room. She'd changed into pants and a more modest sweater, the fringe of her short, dark-blonde hair swept back with a headband. "I'm having a bit of trouble with some jerks, so I instructed the maid not to let anyone suspicious in. It's such a pity she couldn't distinguish gangsters from commoners."

"How did you know that we're not part of the gang?" Maria asked, smiling meaningfully.

"That's simple, Ma'am Russian American," the girl answered, hopping onto the desk and sat on it. "You'll fit nicely into a gangster, but your friend there won't. Besides, female gang members usually retired after they had children, and looking at you, I can tell that both of you have children. You've done a good job keeping your figures, Ma'ams, but there are just some things you can't restore."

Sakura felt heat creeping to her cheeks. The girl's straightforwardness was a bit too much for her standard. Clinging at Maria, she could see that her sister was blushing too – beneath her calm, poker face.

"Anyway," the girl continued, ignoring the fact that she'd just embarrass the two women, "what are you here for? If it's for anything related to my Father's company, you'll be really disappointed. I've just sold the Company to someone else – it's no longer mine now. Can't really say this new owner is a good person, though, so I'll give you some other names you could go to. Ivanovic has some really good stuff, and you can probably understand what he says, so..."

"We are not here for business, Miss," Maria cut in. Sakura silently sighed, relieved. This girl was a talking machine – not dissimilar to her youngest niece Chiharu.

"So?" the girl asked, raising an eyebrow.

Maria looked at the girl, cooly brushing away her fringe from her left eye. "Have you ever considered working overseas?"

"Work?" the girl asked, half-laughing. "I've never considered working, Ma'am. I have enough money for my entire life. That's not to say that working won't be a nice experience, though. May I inquire what kind of work that is?"

"Alright, Miss," Maria answered. Sakura could feel her sister tensing up a bit. This was the climax of their mission today – telling the girl about who they were and try to get her to join. "Do you remember that time, when you were admitted into hospital following a pub riot?"

"Hell, yes," the girl said, slouching down a bit. "It was a total disgrace. I was just trying to have a bit of fun, I was so unlucky that those brainless dudes decided to start a fight right there. I couldn't really retell the story for I was half-drunk when it happened, but I remembered throwing something to stop the fight – then fainted for no reason. Alcohol and combat don't work together, at least for me."

"Do you know what you actually threw?" Maria asked, looking sharply at the girl's face.

"No idea," the girl shrugged, grimacing. "Hopefully not the pubmaster's cat, he's mad in love with that thing. Actually, the cat wasn't too bad. I heard that some stupid person ended up burning the pub that night, the cat might have ended up roasted anyway."

Both Maria and Sakura smiled warily at this remark. This girl obviously didn't realise that she had thrown a burning dagger.

"It was you who burned the pub, Miss," Maria explained without attempting to hide her smile. "You threw a dagger, which burned for no apparent reason once it hit the ceiling."

"Really?" the girl asked, sounding both sceptical and interested. "It's just not possible. I might have accidentally hit someone's lighter when I threw the dagger."

"There's no such thing, Miss Russell," Maria said, smiling a bit wider. "The fire came from you."

Upon hearing it, the girl slid down from the table and looked confusedly at the two ladies.

"You're special, Miss," Sakura said, touching the girl's lower arm reassuringly. She secretly prayed that this girl would be able to understand her English, for she really wanted to say something right now. "And that's why we want you to join our Defense Troupe. Some affiliate of ours had secretly tested your ability when you were unconscious, Miss. Your energy suits those of our existing personnel well."

"Defense Troupe?" the girl asked, looking at Sakura as if the Secretary had grown an extra head. "Are you trying to tell me some cheap joke or what, Ma'am Japanese?"

"This is real, Miss," Maria assured, pulling out her Teikoku Kagekidan identity badge and showed it to the girl. "The Japanese Imperial Capital Defense Troupe hereby requests your service, Miss Noreen Russell, as a combatant... and an actress."

**_To be continued..._**

_

* * *

_

Hope you enjoyed the story. The title, "Because of Love and The Red Sunray", came from the two main things discussed in this chapter – the plan to reproduce "_Ai Yueni_" ("Because of Love") and the recruitment of the new member Noreen Russell (Noreen = light/sunray, Russell = red – both are general Western names).

Oh, and as for why Noreen's English waitress didn't understand what Maria was saying, it was because Maria spoke with American dialect (on top of her Russian accent). Noreen called Maria 'Ma'am Russian American' and Sakura 'Ma'am Japanese' because she recognised their accents - the girl's a little witty thing :).

* * *

Till next week,

TheWritingProgrammer.


	9. Chapter 9: Problems

**Disclaimer**: still the same...

Here's chapter 9, finished a while ago but remained un-posted due to me being out of town. I offer you my sincerest apology should I make you wait too long for this ;). First part is from OC (Noreen) 's perspective, second is from Sumire's, third from a general POV, and the last part is again told by Sumire. There are quite a lot of background information interspersed in all the parts, even I felt intimidated by the amount of information when re-reading XD. Hopefully it's not too much.

Special thanks for James Birdsong for his review, and thanks to all my faithful readers – who stay tuned despite the increasing amount of OC-s in this story. There are times when my own decision of including heaps of OC-s got me down. However, I have had the whole story pictured in mind and therefore I will persevere. Things might get a bit slowed down after this, for I am entering my penultimate semester at Uni. I'm assuring all of you that I'll seek all possible excuses to write the next chapters of this story instead of writing my thesis :P.

Enjoy!

* * *

OC guide:

TeiGeki Junior Team:

- Natsue Oogami (Sakura and Oogami's daughter)

- Aki Kayama (Kayama and Kaede's daughter)

- Chiharu Tachibana (Maria's daughter, unspecified father)

- Mifuyuko Asakawa (daughter of Hanagumi's private Doctor, who was adopted by the Hanagumi after her mother and aunt was killed by evil forces)

- Ella Beltz (French cafe singer spotted by Oogami, Maria, and Sakura while they were in Paris)

- Noreen Russel (rich girl recruited from London; has similarities with Sumire)

- two more girls, and one male captain to join later

More about them and their relationships with the Hanagumi/others in the wordpress blog listed on my author's profile.

I guarantee that there is no Mary Sue in this story. I don't do self-insertion, and I don't insert my friends/people I know as well :).

* * *

**Dawn of Seasons**

**Chapter Nine: **_Problems_

**London**

As the car rolled slowly away from the lifeless place which had been her home for fifteen years, Noreen pressed her cheek against the window and took her time having a last look at the huge, cold house.

To tell the truth, she wasn't too sad about leaving the place. There was nothing worth missing, no happy memories. All the vivid memories she'd got about the place was angsty – mainly about Dad and how he clearly showed that he didn't love her. Sometimes, when she sat alone heartbroken from Dad's indifferent treatments, Noreen asked herself what would have been had Dad left her with the woman who had given birth to her. Of course, her Mother might have hated her and beaten her senseless, but there was also a possibility that she would love her much more than Dad did. Noreen might have had a better fate than being Dad's ego-fulfilment, a child and heiress people thought he must have had.

No one really knew that Noreen was leaving for Japan to work there, but she knew that they would think that she was crazy had they known about it. In their opinion, she had everything. Noreen didn't blame them for thinking like that – after all, she had a fortune and good looks to complete her virtues. They might not know how empty her life had been, beneath all the 'fun' she had been having. Noreen needed something to live for, and this interesting job might make her life meaningful. Japan was a very interesting place – Oriental culture and all.

And, also, she might meet her birth mother there.

Noreen's birth certificate – which she managed to yank out of Dad's secured cabinet after he died two years ago – stated that she was born in Japan. Her mother's name wasn't there, sadly, but Noreen had long realised that this woman was Asian. Noreen couldn't have looked the way she did without having an Asian mother, considering that Dad was fair-haired and blue-eyed. There was a big chance that Noreen's mother was Japanese, and that she still lived there.

This whole finding-my-Mother fantasy might be stupid, for Japan wasn't a small place, but Noreen couldn't help herself from hoping. She wasn't planning to tell the Defense/Revue Troupe people about any of her plans, but she would try for it. Let's just hope that she would have enough spare time to go on with this plan.

The house slowly disappeared from sight. Smirking, Noreen turned her head to the road in front of her. She was really ready for the adventure waiting for her in Japan.

* * *

**Daitekoku Gekijou, Tokyo**

Though Sumire disliked training the two rookies, she must admit that it was a very interesting process indeed. Mifuyuko and Ella had little idea that they would one day be actresses, and they had so much to learn compared to the Hanagumi daughters who'd probably been on stage since they were foetuses in their mothers' wombs. Mifuyuko's shyness and Ella's girlish clumsiness added new entertainment values to this process. Sometimes it was so hard not to grin at their accidentally comedic acts. Even Leni – the ever-emotionless Leni – was once or twice close to chuckling. Sumire couldn't wait for Maria and Sakura to get back from England. Watching the two High Commando ladies' reactions to the juniors' abuse of their signature play would be really amusing.

"Now, Ella," Leni said, kneeling and holding the caramel-haired girl's hips firmly, "guys don't sway their hips when they walk. Hold yourself still."

Although Ella's total incompetence was a bit irritating for Sumire, she actually could sympathise with the young French lady. The Hanagumi male-role actresses: Maria, Kanna, and Leni, had naturally been boyish when they started. This new girl, however, did not have even a single boyish fibre in her body. The only manly thing about her was her voice.

Throwing a glance to the other end of the stage, Sumire could see that Orihime and Iris were busy talking to Mifuyuko – probably giving the hundredth briefing not to be poker-faced and show some joy in seeing your lover. The directress pursed her lips. This was no good. Both their leading actresses were equally bad. What could they do to get these girls ready in less than three months?

"Let's not put the usual _Ai Yueni _stairs on the stage this time," Sumire heard Kanna saying, presumably to Kouran. The two had been sitting on the floor behind her, busy discussing the stage design.

"Why?" Kouran asked, a hint of confusion in her voice.

"Ella can't handle it. What would the audience say if Lord Andre tumbles and rolls down the stairs?"

The image of the ethereal, cool Lord Andre falling down the stairs crossed Sumire's mind. It was hilarious, so hilarious she couldn't help herself from turning around and muffling a cackle. Kanna's wide grin and Kouran's subtle, repressed smile told her that she wasn't the only one who thought that the potential disaster was hilarious.

"You three look so happy."

Sumire halted her cackle and turned to the source of the voice. There, sitting on the first row of the audience seat, was the Commander. He looked a bit dead. Maria and Sakura's absence had apparently taken toll on his health and stamina.

"Ah, Commander," she said, climbing down the stage steps to greet him. "Good afternoon. How's your day?"

He gave her a defeated smile.

"It's been tiring so far," he said. "Revue International is trying to tamper with our business again. Their annoying Troupe Coordinator has been trying to talk me into giving up one of the girls for placement in Germany. He's been taking advantage of Maria's absence – she's the only person who could silence him."

"Which girl is he asking for?" Sumire asked, dropping down to the seat beside the Commander.

"Chiharu," the Commander answered. He bowed down and closed his eyes, slowly massaging the spot between his eyes. "Actually it was a good thing Maria wasn't there – the goddamned Dude called our little niece 'Calico'".

Sumire felt her blood boiling. While Chiharu did have genetic abnormality, calling the little girl a 'Calico' was definitely offensive.

"He should have realised that Chiharu is much better than his own airhead of a daughter," the directress said harshly. "Why don't he send the dumb girl instead, so that she learns that a bit of knowledge in her brain wouldn't hurt? He's just a pathetic egoist."

"Yes, he is," the Commander agreed. "Anyway, the problem's solved. He won't be bugging us again for a while. Now, I just have to bear with the triple-workload for one more day – Maria and Sakura should be arriving tomorrow night, with our newest recruit in tow."

"Let's hope this girl is less clueless than those two," Sumire bluntly said, looking at Ella and Mifuyuko, who were now practising a dialogue – with their usual funny awkwardness. "I've never seen a worse stage couple, to be honest. We've never had a rookie pairing with a rookie – usually it's a rookie and an established actress."

The Commander focused his eyes on the girls, frowning in deep thought. The look on his face indicated that he wasn't fond of what he saw as well.

"Stop this rehearsal and tell all of your sisters to gather in my office," he eventually said, standing up and walking away. "We're having a Hanagumi meeting in half an hour."

* * *

Half an hour later, the Hanagumi sisters – minus Maria and Sakura – were all in the Managerial Office, spread all across the chairs and the couch. They were all looking at the Commander, who was sitting on his usual chair. The man's expression told them that he was about to drop a bomb, and they were anticipating it. They'd been discussing what he might be wanting to tell them on their way to the office earlier. The majority of them suspected that he might want to cancel the show or push it back for three more months, filling the gap with another show by the Hanagumi. There were two alternative guesses, though. One of them guessed that he wanted Mifuyuko and Ella to swap roles, and the other guessed that he would arrange Ella to perform as Clementine, with Maria or Leni as Andre. Whatever that was, they knew that it should have something to do with the gender-bend issue they were currently facing. Ella was far too girly to play a guy, whilst Mifuyuko was too timid to be a female lead.

"Alright, ladies," the Commander began. "We're here to discuss the current issues we're having with our newest girls, Ella and Mifuyuko. Whilst I agree with most of you that these girls are somewhat similar with the two other Hanagumi members who are not here today, it seems that we're having rather unfortunate combinations of trait here, resulting in two girls who are neither male leads nor female leads."

All the six ladies, except Sumire and Leni who just smiled, stifled their chuckles. The Commander had just given them a really correct description of the problem.

"Do you think we should put Mifuyuko on heels and ask them to swap roles?" Orihime asked, looking curiously at her former Captain.

"That's unnecessary," the Commander answered. "We can continue what we've been doing so far. We just have to do it in a slightly different way."

"What do you mean by slightly different way?" Kanna asked, raising an eyebrow.

The Commander smiled meaningfully.

"From now on," he said, looking at the sisters one by one, "I want you to treat Ella as if she was a boy. Double up her physical exercises, and push her to excel in everything, including the impossibles."

* * *

The Hanagumi sisters spent the rest of the evening designing the new training regimes for the two juniors. It wasn't at all an easy process, for they kept debating about what was 'too much' and what was 'acceptable'. Nonetheless, everything was settled by the next morning. Ella was woken up before dawn for a boot-camp style workout with the older 'boys', whilst Mifuyuko was compelled to attend a string of social events and go out in public with the 'girls'. It wasn't an easy day at all, and by dinnertime, both girls and the seniors were exhausted.

Right now, Sumire was sitting in the kitchen with the other Hanagumi ladies, having a dinner-and-discussion. They were eating leftovers, but it didn't matter, for no one really paid attention to the food. They were all busy telling and listening to stories about the juniors' trainings.

"For a moment, I almost gave up," Sumire heard Orihime saying. "Mifuyuko looked so lost in the crowd – I could see that she was really close to breaking down."

Sumire put her chopsticks down. While Mifuyuko didn't say anything about the training regime, it was obvious that dealing with the crowd was such a torture for the shy girl.

"She's got a pretty good resilience, though," the directress said, looking at the other Hanagumi ladies. "No complaints, not even a single tear even though she was really scared."

"Ella's got that as well," Kouran commented. "Poor girl, she'll have bad bruises by tomorrow – too many tumbles and accidents. Not to mention that we kept screaming on her ears as well."

"I think you can even ask them to walk on fire without screaming – and they'll do it," Kanna murmured in between her bites. "I haven't known much yet about Mifuyuko, but I can say that Ella can cope with pressure and expectations really well. The girl's really tough."

"Mifuyuko is a bit different," Iris responded. "She gets intimidated by expectations – it's her determination which pulls her through it."

"What would Maria and Sakura say, if they know we're doing _this _to Ella and Mifuyuko?" Orihime asked, shaking her head.

"Actually I am more afraid that we're slowly turning the youngsters into another Maria and another Sakura," Leni, who had been silent so far, commented. "They should be allowed to retain their own individualities."

Leni was right. It had been Sumire's fear as well; that they were creating two impersonators instead of actresses. Was that tinge of innocence in Ella unacceptable for a male lead? Was Mifuyuko _really _too timid to be a female lead, or it was just them who weren't used to the way she approached her role? Of course, the girliness and shyness had to be dealt with, but the rest seemed alright, once they were put into perspective.

"Damn, I've never thought of that," Kanna said, dropping her chopsticks hard on the table.

"We might feel it's just natural to expect from Ella and Mifuyuko what our two sisters could give," Leni continued, looking around at all of them. "But that just wasn't right – they should be able to do _Ai Yueni _their way."

"Let Maria and Sakura have their says in this," Kouran muttered, taking another bite of the food. "I'm sure they wouldn't want to be impersonated, though – it's kind of scary and disturbing."

"Speaking of the two," Orihime suddenly said, "they should have been here by now – what takes them too long?"

"I'm here," someone said behind them.

Turning around to the source of the voice, Sumire saw Sakura – still in travelling attire – standing at the door. The Secretary looked positively exhausted; yet she looked just as calmingly cheerful as usual.

"Sakura!" Iris happily exclaimed, rushing to the door to hug the older woman. "You're home! We've been missing you a lot here, too many things going on."

"I know," Sakura responded, hugging the youngest Hanagumi sister back. "But now that we – Maria and I – are back here, I guess there are something we could do to help sorting out all the fiasco."

"By the way, where is Maria?" Iris asked, looking behind Sakura.

"She's taking our newest recruit for a tour around the building. Your _Niisan _is with them as well," Sakura answered.

So, the newest recruit was finally here. Sumire found herself excited by this, and glancing quickly at her sisters, she could see that they were excited as well – except for Kanna. Her closest sister seemed a bit disturbed about this; Sumire made a mental note to gorge out what really happened from the Okinawan later at home.

"I can't wait to see whether she will pair up with one of the girls, just like Ella pairs up with Mifuyuko," Orihime commented. "What's her name again?"

"Noreen," Sakura answered. "Noreen Russell. We don't know yet who she's likely to pair with, she seems a bit different from our current girls."

The echoing sounds of footsteps approaching the kitchen startled Sumire. Looking further away from the door, she saw three tall-ish figures approaching. She instantly recognised the Commander and Maria among the three. She sort of recognised the third person as well, though she couldn't recall where she saw this female.

"Ah, here they are," Sakura said, smiling. "Everyone, this is Noreen, our newest junior. Noreen, these are the rest of the Hanagumi – Iris, Leni, Orihime, Kouran, Kanna, and Sumire."

_To be continued..._

_

* * *

_

'Till I write again!


	10. Ch10:New Problem & Solution for the Prev

**Disclaimer**: as usual

I must admit it took me shorter than what I expected to finish this first two-digit numbered chapter, thanks to my thesis (which seems so daunting I don't even want to start doing it again XD). We'll view events from Sumire's, Kanna's, and a general point of view this time. The story still revolves around the recruitment of new junior Noreen Russell and the plan to reproduce _Ai Yueni _with rookies Ella Beltz and Mifuyuko Asakawa as stars. I found it hard not to write Kanna out of character in the second part, it was so hard to keep her in character while writing about such a serious situation .'. Hopefully she doesn't go to much out of character there.

Special thanks to James Birdsong and Yumi Michiyo for their reviews, and thanks to all of you who faithfully read this story. I'll keep practising and revising so I could deliver you a good story you can enjoy.

Enjoy!

* * *

OC guide:

TeiGeki Junior Team:

- Natsue Oogami (Sakura and Oogami's daughter)

- Aki Kayama (Kayama and Kaede's daughter)

- Chiharu Tachibana (Maria's daughter, unspecified father)

- Mifuyuko Asakawa (daughter of Hanagumi's private Doctor, who was adopted by the Hanagumi after her mother and aunt was killed by evil forces)

- Ella Beltz (French cafe singer spotted by Oogami, Maria, and Sakura while they were in Paris)

- Noreen Russel (rich girl recruited from London; has similarities with Sumire)

- two more girls, and one male captain to join later

More about them and their relationships with the Hanagumi/others in the wordpress blog listed on my author's profile.

Oh, and as what I've always said, no Mary Sue-s and self-insertions :).

* * *

**Dawn of Seasons**

_Chapter 10: New Problem and Solution for the Previous_

**Daitekoku Gekijou**

"...everyone, this is Noreen, our newest junior. Noreen, these are the rest of the Hanagumi – Iris, Leni, Orihime, Kouran, Kanna, and Sumire."

The girl nodded, looking uninspired. If there was something Sumire instantly caught about this British girl, it was that she was somewhat cocky and cheeky. Sumire could easily picture the dark-blonde challenging the Hanagumi and also the other juniors. Her head suddenly aches; surely one more Ella or one more Mifuyuko would be far easier to handle than this girl.

"Noreen Russell, on your service Ma'ams," the girl said in perfect English. Sumire noticed that the teenager's voice was a bit strange – like a broken soprano.

"Everyone here will be your teacher, Noreen," the Commander told the girl. "They'll teach you how to sing, dance, act, and fight. Leni and Iris are your direct supervisors – these two will look after you and your comrades."

Noreen nodded again, forcing a polite smile on her face this time. Sumire felt like slapping the girl already. The attitude was almost unbearable.

"I hope I'll be an alright student for all of you," the teenager said in a really casual manner. "I'll try my best, though I can see that some of you do really mind having me here. It's in your expressions, Ma'ams."

To say that the remark was surprising was such an understatement. It was very rude and shocking.

"Umm, I don't know who you're talking about, Noreen," Iris quickly said, trying to save the situation. "But we've been having a rather hard day with the other girls today. Perhaps you've been mistaking our weariness as disapprovals."

"She's right," the Commander added, patting the teenager's shoulder. "A major production is coming up, and we're whipping two of your comrades into shape for it. Perhaps we should be calling it a night. We'll take you to your bedroom."

"It's so nice of the two of you to smooth things out for your friends," the rude teenager responded, folding her arms on her chest. "But the eyes never lie. There are two particular Ma'ams who seem to dislike me here. Oh, well, you can't be instantly likeable to everyone, can you?"

Sumire clenched her jaw, trying her best to restrain her boiling outrage. Noreen Russell should thank Mifuyuko for this; Sumire would have definitely had her go on the rude British girl had she not been drained by Mifuyuko's training ordeal.

"Your room is on the third floor," Maria finally said, breaking the awkward silence. "We've arranged your belongings to be sent there. Iris, would you walk our new recruit up to her room?"

Iris nodded, playing along with the eldest Hanagumi sister's scenario. She quickly led the unbearable new girl out of the kitchen, closing the door as they exited. The Commander and the seven Hanagumi sisters looked at each other in complete silence, unmoving until the sounds of Iris and Noreen's footsteps disappeared into the quiet night.

"That girl will be a trouble," Orihime then complained, placing her tired head on the table. "She seems ready to go against us."

"She might not get along well with the others as well," Kouran added, smiling sheepishly. "Natsue and Aki's reactions to her will be really interesting. Let's hope this is just a cultural issue, and that she's not really difficult."

"It was all intentional," Leni plainly said, shifting a bit. "I have an impression that she was staging all those up to aggravate us. She could just be an attention seeker."

"Leni could be right," Sakura agreed, dropping down to one of the empty chairs. "She was a rich, lonely orphan – apparently her father didn't care about her too when he was alive."

"I did notice that Sumire and Kanna seemed really unhappy upon seeing her, though," Maria remarked, leaning against the wall. "While she's not exactly likeable, I think it's important that we maintain neutrality when dealing with her – give her a chance."

"I don't like her," Sumire curtly blurted out. She stood up and leaned over the table, looking around at the Commander and her sisters. "A girl who has no respect towards her elders will never be anything. She might think she's really good, but she's actually nothing."

"She grew up unloved, Sumire," Maria said. Turning to the eldest Hanagumi sister, Sumire met the Vice Commander's cool, piercing glare. "We might not be able to put all the blame on her for hating older people and authorities."

"I second that," the Commander added, shifting closer to Sakura and circling his arms around his wife's neck. "Her mother's complete absence and her father's ignorance might have corroded her soul. We are her guardians now, and I feel that we have this responsibility of healing her soul and change her into a better woman."

The sound of a chair scratching the floor distracted Sumire. Turning to the source, she saw Kanna standing up, grabbing her coat which was previously draped over the back of her chair.

"Alright, if you believe so," the tall redhead said, smirking and closing her eyes. "I still think that recruiting Noreen Russell is such a great mistake, but, what is my opinion compared to that of the High Commando themselves?"

The uncharacteristic, cynical question was such a blow for Sumire. For a moment, she could just look disbelievingly at her assistant and confidante, who was now putting on her coat casually as if nothing had happened. Kanna was in a really good term with the Commander, Maria, and Sakura – she was in fact closer to Maria and Sakura than to Sumire when they were younger. Something had clearly happened behind Sumire's back.

"Kanna, that was -"

"Stop it, Maria, for I'm leaving now," Kanna harshly cut Maria's disapproving exclamation, turning around and walking towards the kitchen door. "Come on, Sumire, it's getting late and I have a feeling that both our boys are running around wild at home now."

Grabbing her own coat, Sumire threw a last glance at the Commander and the other five Hanagumi women. Their all-but-confused faces kept replaying in her mind as she rushed out and followed Kanna to their car.

She was _so _asking Kanna about what had on earth happened when they got home tonight.

* * *

**Kanzaki/Kirishima Residence, Tokyo**

Kanna wasn't at all surprised when Sumire had another mental blackout when they got home that night. It had been a tiring day after all, and the directress had just seen the damned girl – whom she instantly disliked. The martial artist was grateful for their boys. Taka and Ryuhou readily consoled Sumire, reassuring her that everything was alright and she would always have them even though her baby girl was 'gone'. Kanna's blood boiled again as she thought about how all these fiasco had affected the boys; the High Commando should have seen how they had relegated the children into babysitting their mother and aunt. How could the three put the city and the country above their own sister and nephews? Oh, well, they already went Yoneda and sacrificed their own children for the mission, so Kanna should have known not to hope anything from them.

Now, at about two hours past midnight, she was at the lounge, sitting as still as a log not to wake Ryuhou up. The boy had fallen asleep on her shoulder, exhausted and scared for his mother. Taka was sitting quietly on the floor under Kanna and Ryuhou's legs, looking contemplatively on the intricate motif of the carpet. Kanna reached out an arm to ruffle her son's unruly red hair. The gesture caused Taka to look up and attempt a half-hearted grin to cheer his mother up. Kanna's heart swelled with pride. She must admit, with great embarrassment, that she had ever considered getting rid of her unwanted baby boy when she found out about his existence, nearly eighteen years ago. Glad that she changed her mind later, for now she knew she wouldn't trade Taka for anything in the world.

"I'm sorry to have made you babysit Sumire," the dark-skinned woman whispered, looking alternately between her nephew and son. "She's not so easy to babysit, though I think she's much easier when she's having an attack."

Taka's grin got wider. He plopped up onto the empty space on the couch next to Kanna, sandwiching his mother between himself and his sleeping cousin.

"That wasn't a difficult job, actually," he whispered back proudly. "We just have to assure that we're not going anywhere – it did calm her down. Poor Sumire-_obasama, _she was first betrayed by her jerk of a husband, and then her daughter was dead. _Ka-chan_, do you have any idea what my little female cousin should look like, had she been alive?"

Honestly, Kanna had little idea about that. The girl was just hours old when she disappeared from the hospital – they didn't even knew the exact colour of her hair and eyes.

"Perhaps she would look like her father," the Okinawan randomly said, the recent memories of Noreen Russell's Sumire-ish face playing in her head. "One Sumire is already too much for the world to handle, should there really be another cactus woman?"

Taka laughed heartily – then stifled it when he realised that his cousin and best mate Ryuhou was sleeping.

"Ah, yes," he suddenly said, as if hit by an inspiration. "Sakura-_obasama _called when you were upstairs with Sumire-_obasama_, she asked whether the two of you had made it safely home. She sounded really relieved when I confirmed that. Have you been missing or what?"

"Nope," Kanna answered, throwing her head back and looking at the ceiling. "I left the theatre somewhat angry earlier, perhaps your uncle and aunts were afraid that I'd crash the car."

"Wow, I don't know those new girls are that bad," Taka commented, clearly assuming that it was Ella or Mifuyuko who made Kanna angry. "They seem quiet and well-behaved, almost boring to me."

"This is not about Ella and Mifuyuko," replied Kanna without thinking much. "There's this new girl they're having now, and I was having a disagreement with your uncle and two eldest aunts about her."

"Really? What is she like?" Taka asked excitedly.

Sometimes, Kanna wished that she could just exert better control over what she said.

"Rude and annoying," she shortly answered, after a bit of frantic thinking. "Sumire disliked her from the start, and I don't like her either, after she says outrageous things just within minutes after meeting us."

"Sounds like someone interesting," Taka muttered, looking interestedly at Kanna. "I assume you and Sumire-_obasama _would really mind Ryuhou and I meeting this new girl, but we're so going to _Daitekoku Gekijou _tomorrow."

"Do it as you like," Kanna bluntly said, closing her eyes. As much as she hated the idea, she knew that forbidding Taka and Ryuhou from doing something they wanted to was as efficient as encouraging them to do it. "I won't even say anything if you say you want to marry her – just take her as far from the theatre as possible after you do so. I really want her removed from the troupe, for our wellbeing. She's a total danger for Sumire's mental health."

* * *

**Daitekoku Gekijou, Tokyo**

"A rewrite?" Orihime asked her eldest sister, confused.

"Yes, Orihime," Maria answered. "Sakura and I have discussed this, and after seeing Ella and Mifuyuko's performance during the last three rehearsals, we decided that we should alter the _Ai Yueni _story."

"How do you want it to be?" Sumire asked, her voice raised in annoyance. "I don't want to direct something utterly ridiculous or impossible, or a play no one will want to watch."

"We – Maria, Leni, Iris, and I – are working on the new script at the moment, but we already outlined the big picture," Sakura answered, pulling out a paper inserted into the old scriptbook she was holding. "Basically, we will reverse the situation. This _Ai Yueni _will be a love story between a high-class girl and a revolution fighter. That would suit Mifuyuko and Ella better. We – all the eight of us – will help the girls by being on stage as much as possible. There will be some adult roles to play, including Mifuyuko's aristocrat parents and Ella's poor caregivers. We're also thinking of new French names for the characters – Andre and Clementine just don't cut it."

The four Hanagumi ladies who weren't involved in the rewriting, including Kanna who was still slightly mad at Maria and Sakura, quickly gathered around the table upon which Sakura put the paper. They nodded and mmph-ed as they skimmed the proposed ideas, approving those points.

"This will be brilliant!" Kouran exclaimed excitedly as she finished reading. "Tokyo will fall in love quickly and easily with this new story – and also Ella and Mifuyuko!"

_To be continued..._

_

* * *

_

'Till I write again!


	11. Chapter 11: Of Seniors and Juniors

**Disclaimer**: as usual

Chapter 11 is here! Still revolving around OC Ella and Mifuyuko's debut with a rewritten version of _Ai Yueni_ and issues with other OC Noreen, this time we'll see the events from Mifuyuko's, Sakura's, and finally a general point of view. Now that I have so many subplots and details in mind, it's getting harder and harder to write. Hopefully I'm presenting something you can enjoy this time :).

Thanks to Yumi Michiyo and James Birdsong for their reviews, and all of you my readers. I'll try my best to improve my skills and be a better writer.

Happy reading!

* * *

OC guide:

TeiGeki Junior Team:

- Natsue Oogami (Sakura and Oogami's daughter)

- Aki Kayama (Kayama and Kaede's daughter)

- Chiharu Tachibana (Maria's daughter, unspecified father)

- Mifuyuko Asakawa (daughter of Hanagumi's private Doctor, who was adopted by the Hanagumi after her mother and aunt was killed by evil forces)

- Ella Beltz (French cafe singer spotted by Oogami, Maria, and Sakura while they were in Paris)

- Noreen Russell (rich girl recruited from London; has similarities with Sumire)

- two more girls, and one male captain to join later

More about them and their relationships with the Hanagumi/others in the wordpress blog listed on my author's profile.

Oh, and as what I've always said, no Mary Sue-s and self-insertions :).

* * *

**Dawn of Seasons**

_Chapter 11: of Seniors and Juniors_

**Daitekoku Gekijou, Tokyo**

Looking around the stage, Mifuyuko couldn't help but feeling slightly nervous. Whilst she was pretty much used to the sight of the two youngest Hanagumi sisters in their rehearsal attires, the sight of the six others in similar clothings was pretty intimidating.

She couldn't stop stealing glances at Sakura-_obasama _and _Tjotja _Maria since she saw them entering the room. She'd never seen them wearing anything but their _Daitekoku Gekijou _uniforms before, and the sight of them in their rehearsal attire was an entirely new thing for the quiet girl. Right now, they were discussing something with Ichirou-_oji_, who had hailed down from the Managerial Office to watch the rehearsal.

"Having a crush on _Tjotja _and Sakura-_obasama_, aren't you?" her comrade Aki, who had suddenly stood next to her, joked.

"N...nope," Mifuyuko responded, heat creeping to her cheeks. Getting caught admiring the two High Commando ladies was just too embarrassing for her.

"Aaw, don't be shy," Aki teased again. "They're really good-looking, there's nothing shameful about admiring them."

Mifuyuko chuckled awkwardly, walking away from the centre spot. Aki tailed behind her, certainly ready to have another go at teasing her. The tease never materialised, though. They both stopped in awe when they realised they were just about to walk into Noreen and Natsue's heated argument. The two hot-headed girls chastised each other in English – it was ridiculous that they'd already started fighting and hating each other when Noreen had just been here for a week or so and hadn't yet spoken Japanese.

"Ssh, you two!" Ella hissed, breaking in between the two firecrackers in an attempt to stop the argument. "Please stop! The seniors won't like it!"

"What's the matter with it?" Noreen challenged, waving her hand ignorantly. "I'm having problem with this Princess Brat here, and they have no say in that. By the way, your English sounds really funny, _Mademoiselle –_ perhaps you should just stick to French or ask the Ma'ams to teach you Russian or German."

Mifuyuko sighed, and she could hear Aki sighing too. Circling her arm around a disturbed Chiharu, who had run to them from her former position behind Ella, the copper-haired teen wondered if they would ever get along with Noreen. The new girl was so callous, rude, and stubborn.

"Alright, girls!" Ichirou-_oji _shouted, clearly unaware about the ongoing fight. "Time for cast announcement! Come here!"

Taking Chiharu's hand, Mifuyuko turned around and made her way to the corner of the stage where all the Hanagumi – nine of them – were gathering. She could feel all her other comrades quietly following behind; apparently Noreen and Natsue were more interested in the new play than continuing their pointless bicker. Moments later, all the six girls had gathered around their seniors, expectant of what was coming. Now, this was really stupid, but Mifuyuko still felt this strange flutter every time she caught the sight of her female seniors – her adoptive mothers – in their old rehearsal clothings. She nearly blushed when Sakura-_obasama _handed her a freshly printed scriptbook, and could barely made out the words on the cover: _Mada, Ai Yueni_.

"We'll be performing _Mada, Ai Yueni_," Ichirou-_oji _started explaining, looking around at all his fourteen girls and ladies. "This play was written by our own Maria, Sakura, Leni, and Iris; based loosely on the original _Ai Yueni _story."

The other four Hanagumi ladies clapped, and the girls followed. _Tatie _Iris stood up and made a curtsy; they all laughed at her antics.

"We'll be having Sumire and Kanna as our producers and directors," Ichirou-_oji _continued, gesturing at the two funny-but-scary ladies. "On the first page of your scripts are the role lists, take a look now and let us know if you feel you need to be re-casted."

He paused, turning to Noreen and looking apologetically at the British girl. "I know this sounds a bit unfair, Noreen," he then said in English, "but we have discussed about this, and it seems that it's not yet your time to be on stage. You'll be working on ticketing and front of house with me, though – that should be an interesting experience for you."

"Alright, if you want me to," Noreen said somewhat ignorantly. Mifuyuko could see some of the Hanagumi ladies glaring in disapproval of the callous rebel's behaviour. It was rude for the standard of Japanese manner.

"Wow, these names are diabolical," Mifuyuko heard Aki muttering. She suddenly recalled that she still needed to check the role list, and hence took a deep breath and opened her script. While they had said that there would be some recasting, she was well aware that she was likely to still be the lead female – the seniors had always alluded that it was _her _play.

_**Mada, Ai Yueni**_

CAST

-LEADS-

_**Julien**__ Martin-Dubois_ - Ella

_**Victoire** d'Estaing_ - Mifuyuko

-D'ESTAING FAMILY-

_Viscomte d'Estaing, **Victoire's** **father**_ - Maria

_Viscomtesse d'Estaing, **Victoire's** **mother** - _Sakura

_Eugenie d'Estaing, **Victoire's** **younger** **sister**_ - Chiharu

_Michel d'Estaing, **Victoire's** **uncle** and royal army captain -_ Leni

_Mademoiselle Euphrasie, **Victoire's** **governess** - _Iris

-DUBOIS FAMILY-

_Annette Dubois-Martin, **Julien's mother** _- Sumire

_Monsieur Dubois, **Julien's** **uncle**_ - Kouran

_Madame Dubois, **Julien's** **aunt**_ - Orihime

_Zoe Dubois_, _**Julien's** **cousin**_ - Aki

-OTHERS-

_**Revolution** **Leader** - _Kanna

_Adele Petit, **Julien's childhood friend who loves him**_ - Natsue

"This story revolves around a forbidden romance between Julien, a commoner, and the noble lady Victoire during the months leading to French revolution," the Commander briefly explained. "Rehearsal starts today, and I'm leaving this to you, Sumire, Kanna."

"Thanks, Manager," Sumire-_obasama _said, nodding at Ichirou-_oji_. She clung at Ella and Mifuyuko – Mifuyuko flinched under the directress' sharp glare. "We promise we'll make a really unforgettable performance, and turn our juniors into top stars."

* * *

It started like a typical morning in _Daitekoku Gekijou, _at least for Sakura. She woke up automatically at her set hour – to the sight of her husband walking out of their room, fully dressed – and went straight to the bathroom, wrapping her dressing gown tightly around her frame as she walked. Freshened up and fully awake, she then strode towards the big window and opened the curtain, standing still for a while to take in the sight of the gardens. This was where the typicality of the morning stopped, though. Apart from the usual view of the winter-raided gardens, she caught a rather shocking scene. There, wearing her dull grey junior tracksuit without any head covering, was Ella. The girl was running along the footpath, defying the cold, harsh wind and snow; her soaked jacket sticking to her willowy frame.

The next few minutes were all blur to her as she quickly put her _Daitekoku Gekijou _uniform and dashed downstairs, out to the shielded terrace separating the garden with the main building. There stood Maria and Leni, wearing their tracksuits instead of the formal uniform.

"What are you doing?" she whispered to the two, confused and worried. She knew that Ella was supposed to be put on bootcamp in order to prepare her for male roles, but she thought what her sisters were putting the girl through this morning was too much. "You'd better stop this now, she will get sick!"

"Nah, she won't," someone said behind her. Turning around, Sakura saw Kanna, also in her tracksuit. On the martial artist's hands were two big buckets full of water – Sakura's eyes widened in shock as she realised what they were intended for.

"Kanna," the raven-haired said, tugging on her redhead sister's sleeve, "are you going crazy? She's already cold, I don't think there's any need to soak her..."

"Well, the Commander said he wants Ella to man up," Kanna replied, smirking evilly. "This _is _the way. OOI, ELLA! COME HERE NOW!"

Sakura clung at Maria, secretly begging her eldest sister's help to stop Kanna. Maria just smiled and looked back calmly at her, though – the Vice Commander seemed alright with the martial artist 'abusing' Ella. Shifting her glance to Leni, Sakura found out that the younger sister was no different. The silver-haired just stared analytically at the scene before her, crossing her arms on her chest.

Ella scrambled towards the terrace, nearly tripped twice on her way. With her messy, dampened hair and blu-ish lips, she looked really pitiful – Sakura felt like pulling her in and giving her a cup of hot milk to ease her evident shiver. There was nothing but determination in her grey eyes, though. She stood still and tall, looking at Kanna without blinking.

"Ella Beltz reporting, Ma'am," she said firmly.

"Good," Kanna said light-heartedly, putting one of the buckets on the floor. "Well, since you seem cold, you might as well have some warm water here. Take this!"

Ella gasped in surprise as Kanna poured the entire content of the bucket over her head. While Sakura still strongly disagreed with the slightly cruel practice, she did notice that the bootcamp had worked, though. The old Ella would most likely shriek like other girls would do when she got soaked.

"Have some more!" Kanna said cheerfully, throwing the content of the second bucket all over Ella's front. Again, there was no girly shriek – Ella had, to some extent, man up.

"That should be enough for today," Maria cut in, before Kanna had a chance to go on with other evil plans. "Dry yourself up and change, Ella. We'll be having breakfast in an hour."

Leni handed Ella a fresh towel. The girl took it with a firm nod of gratitude, drying her face, hair, and clothes quietly.

"Oh, well. What a pity."

Turning to the door, Sakura saw Noreen leaning against the jamb, still in her sleepwear. The Secretary's head ached a bit; it seemed that the brash rebel was ready to cause yet another problem. All approaches - gentle and firm, kind and harsh – had so far failed in getting the girl to cooperate with the Hanagumi and her comrades. She always had something annoying to say or do.

"I hope none of the potential audiences happen to see you like this, Ella," Noreen continued, looking at Ella up and down. "You look like hell. They will think that you're a..."

Noreen's sentence was cut when she realised that Ichirou was standing behind her.

"Seems that you're really interested in the bootcamp program, Noreen," he said, patting the girl on the back. "You should be joining Ella from tomorrow on. You have the makings of a dashing male lead, you'll do better with some preparations."

Noreen laughed arrogantly as a response. However, looking at the British girl's face, Sakura noticed that there was actually a slight panic in her eyes. She clearly hated the idea of the bootcamp.

"Alright, alright," she said, lifting both hands to acknowledge her defeat. "I'll join your program from tomorrow on – that shouldn't be too hard to do."

"You say, Miss," Kanna said loudly, smirking. "Watch out – I will really crush you this time, and I mean it."

"Well, then don't expect it to be an easy job, Ma'am," Noreen quickly replied with an almost identical smirk on her face. She turned around and walked back in, snorting cynically before she disappeared up the stairs.

"Say what you say, loser," Kanna muttered. She got an icy glare from Maria on this remark. Sakura knew how annoyed Maria was at Kanna for challenging Noreen earlier. The Vice Commander had always emphasised the importance of neutrality when dealing with the juniors – something Sakura also believed in.

"Let's go in, Ladies," Ichirou said, not wanting to let the unpleasant situation hanging around further. "Ella needs to dry up, and I have something to discuss with you Hanagumi ladies."

* * *

"Putting the girls under specific mentorships?" Iris asked, looking questioningly at the Commander.

The Commander nodded.

"At this stage, I can see that some of them stand out more than others," he explained, meeting each of his ladies – five who were in the room, and the three others: Sumire, Kouran, and Orihime on projected Kinematron screens – on their eyes. "It would be better for everyone's interest if each girl can have one of you looking closely after them and help them dealing with their personal issues, which I feel they sometimes are reluctant to let on. We will still have group lessons, but each girl will have a particular mentor – a senior whom she's most similar to, who knows how to deal with someone like her."

"Isn't this too early to decide on the assignment?" Sakura asked, frowning at her husband. "I mean, we haven't yet had the full team. We might be able to form better matches after we recruit the other two girls."

"I have a similar view," Leni agreed. "Whilst some of the girls had started showing the tendency to assume the role of particular Hanagumi members in their team, their interaction pattern might change once their new teammates arrived."

The Commander smiled at the two women.

"You don't have to worry about wrong assignments," he said, pressing a button on the projection control panel. Another blank screen scrolled down, and one of the unused projectors started humming. "I know you better than you realise, ladies. I can confidently assign all but two of you each of those six girls, and still have the assignment valid even after the new girls arrive."

He stood up and pulled some slide sheets out of the open folder in front of him. All the eight ladies watched curiously as their Commander walked towards the projector and placed one of the transparencies on it. There were chuckles, snorts, and smiles as they realised what their former Captain was trying to project – one of their old photographs, taken when Leni was still short and Iris was still a child.

"This was the eight of you, during a rehearsal break," he told the ladies, smiling. "While you might not realise it, what each of you were doing that time really define who you are."

The Hanagumi sisters laughed as they took the sights of their younger selves in. Now that they were older and wiser, they could say that the Commander's last statement was true. Maria would always be serious, Sakura would always be dedicated, Sumire and Kanna would always be vocal and headstrong, Orihime would always be loud, Kouran would always be the easy-going watcher, Leni would always be the quiet observer, and Iris would always be the energetic little sister. Though life hadn't been too kind to some of them since then, they had not changed by much – still the same women at heart.

Without waiting for the laughter to cease, the Commander took the slide off and replaced it with another. The Hanagumi immediately quieted down as they saw the second photograph. Some of them gasped; this second picture was similar to the first if not for the location and the people pictured.

"This was our six girls in the recreation room," the former Captain continued, his hand hovering above the projector. "As what you might have noticed, this is just like the former picture – with two of you removed. Kouran, Leni, seems that the two of you have to wait for your mentees to arrive."

"Wait," Kanna said, panicking. "Does this mean I have to mentor that brat?"

"Unfortunately yes, Kanna," the Commander answered. "All the observations and the energy analysis showed that Noreen and Natsue match you and Sumire the most, with all the bickering and differences and stuff. Noreen is the bolder of the two, she's just like you."

The second eldest sister moaned, putting her elbows on the table and burying her head behind her arms. Iris pat her back sympathetically, whilst the six others either smiled or sighed.

"So, I'm getting Aki," Orihime commented across the Kinematron, curious and slightly excited. "I've never realised that she's similar to me, though, apart from her interest in piano."

"That's because she's always overshadowed by the others, Orihime," the Commander responded, looking at the screen projecting the noblewoman's face. "Once you start having one-on-one with her, you might be able to see your similarities better – and perhaps bring her out a little more."

"Are you sure about Ella and Mifuyuko, Commander?" Maria asked, frowning in thoughts. "Iris and Chiharu's similarities are indisputable, but I feel Ella resembles Sakura more and Mifuyuko resembles me more."

"Superficially speaking, yes," the Commander said, smiling at his Vice, "but not at heart. Ella is actually a more reserved, thoughtful soul; she just talks more than Mifuyuko does. She'll lead her comrades just as you lead your sisters, I can already see it in her."

"How much additional time we need to allocate for this mentorship, Commander?" Sumire asked, looking a bit concerned. "I'm really delighted to mentor Natsue, but I don't have much time to spend – I have a company to lead."

"It's up to you," the Commander answered. "Each of you are free to approach the mentoring task in your own way. There's no deadline, no goals whatsoever. You just have to be there for them, and in the case of orphaned mentees, ladies, be the closest thing they have to a parent."

_To be continued..._

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'Till I write again!

Oh, and '_Mada, Ai Yueni_' simply means 'Still, Because of Love' – I just added the word 'Still' to the original title (cheeky cheat, yes XD).


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